Every family needs a prayer giant

"Every family needs a prayerful giant".

I recently found this out while reading Matthew Kelly's book 'The four signs of a dynamic catholic'. He wrote this of his experience "Over the years I have encountered many great families in my travels. When I started looking into what made these families so steadfast and full of life, I discovered that all these great families have a giant of prayer".

Another key message from the same book was that prayer is one of the four signs of a dynamic catholic. And it's just not spur of the moment, flash of inspiration, when I feel like or the mood hits me type of prayer. These are the people that have a prayer routine that they diligently follow everyday, come rain or sunshine. They have identified specific times in the day for prayer or attending various spiritual exercises or programs and they are faithful to it regardless of what happens.

Without a doubt, my mum is my family's prayer giant. She is also a dynamic catholic, exhibiting all of the signs mentioned above. She attends mass daily, prays twenty decades of the rosary daily without fail, attends exposition and adoration four times a week as well as attends other spiritual programs. Her routine is very important to her. Never mind that sometimes she's so tired and ends up sleeping in church during the mass or during one of the other activities. In fact my sister argues that she should rather stay at home to sleep when she knows she hasn't gotten enough rest rather than embarrass everyone by sleeping in church. But that wouldn't do for my mum; she must be in church and if that means sleeping before our Lord, then so be it.

I think it's very important to have a prayer routine or/and spiritual exercises we partake in that we are faithful to. I also think it is important that we give God the best of our time, our substance. So the time set aside should not be for instance at the end of the day when one is already tired and fatigued; for instance when I attend Sunday mass in the evening instead of the morning, I feel a huge difference. The energy levels are always higher in the morning. So also we need to identify that time of the day when we are at our best and sharpest and plan that time for our dialogue with God.

It is important to show up, it is also important to show up and 'be there'.

Note: I wrote this article while waiting for my flight to Lagos from London. The flight's departure was delayed by about 30mins. In fact on the screens at Heathrow Terminal 5, the authorities write boldly that unfailingly your gate will be communicated to you at least 90mins before departure. For this flight, the gate was not communicated to us until 45mins before departure. Even on my outbound journey, we departed later than planned. I wonder, is it the 'Nigerian factor' that makes such an efficient system like BA and everything British so inefficient?!!