{"id":30030,"date":"2017-05-18T18:58:38","date_gmt":"2017-05-18T22:58:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/?p=30030"},"modified":"2017-05-19T09:40:29","modified_gmt":"2017-05-19T13:40:29","slug":"on-loving-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/on-loving-god\/","title":{"rendered":"On Loving God","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/b>IT <\/b>was a good question from a man with a good heart:<\/p>\n

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I personally pray for over an hour a day while walking on the treadmill in the morning. I have the Laudate<\/em> app on my phone where I listen to the daily readings, listen to a reflection by Presentation Ministries and then listen to someone leading the rosary. Am I praying with the heart as you recommend in your writings?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Yes, I have written and spoken in many places about the necessity to not only pray, but to pray with the heart. <\/i>It is the difference, really, between reading about swimming\u2026 and jumping head first into the lake.<\/p>\n

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OUR LOVE-CRAZY GOD<\/p>\n

What makes Christianity stand alone among all the religions of the world is the revelation that our God, the one true God, is a loving and personal God.<\/p>\n

Our God does not only reign from on high, but has descended to earth, taken our flesh and humanity, and with it, all our sufferings, joys, expectations, and limitations. He became one of us so that we, His creatures, could know that our God is not a distant, impersonal power, but a close, loving Person. There is no other religion on earth that has such a God, nor such a truth that has not only transformed hearts, but entire continents.<\/p>\n

So, when I say \u201cpray from the heart<\/i>,\u201d I am\u00a0really saying: respond to God the way He is responding to you\u2014with a burning, passionate, totally committed Heart. He is thirsting for you, He who offers you the \u201cliving water\u201d of His love and presence in order to satiate the deepest desires of your heart.<\/p>\n

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“If you knew the gift of God!” The wonder of prayer is revealed beside the well where we come seeking water: there, Christ comes to meet every human being. It is he who first seeks us and asks us for a drink. Jesus thirsts; his asking arises from the depths of God’s desire for us. Whether we realize it or not, prayer is the encounter of God’s thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for him.<\/b> <\/span>\u2014Catechism of the Catholic Church<\/i> (CCC), <\/i>n. 2560<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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THE PASSIONATE PRAY-ER<\/p>\n

So, on the one hand, praying on the treadmill is a good thing, a great way to fill in the time during a workout. In fact, we should \u201cpray always<\/i>\u201d, as Jesus said.[1]<\/sup><\/a>Luke 18:1<\/span><\/span>