The morning prayer is a special moment of intimacy with the Lord, with the One who called me and who supports me in my journey every day. Along with other male and female missionaries, I devote an hour to praise and meditation on the Word of the day, to draw comfort and to intercede for the lives of my brothers, especially the poorest in the world.
I feel a particular gratitude for this privileged time given to me to be with God; every morning I pause for a few moments before starting the prayer with the desire to contemplate the presence of the Lord who awaits me in the tabernacle, to recognize His faithfulness, to which I would not want to become accustomed. The liturgical prayer helps me to feel in communion not only with the universal Church but also with the many men and women who, throughout the centuries, have sung the praises of God through the events of their history. The meditation on the Word, on the other hand, is an instrument of listening to the will of God that illuminates my path in the present.
Personally, I learned to pray from my childhood, through the teachings of my parents and parish life, and later as a young girl, I discovered the beauty of being with the Lord, like in a personal encounter, with a living person. From that moment, little by little, I tried to find a space of intimacy with Him, even in the years of my studies, in the beautiful years of life, as well as in the years of anxious search to discover God’s call, during which God attracted me to Him, making me contemplate, in freedom, the beauty of His Love.
Even today, it helps me to return to these experiences in my memory, even when it is not always easy. Sometimes, paraphrasing Peter’s famous phrase “Lord, you know everything, you know that I love you” (Jn 21:17); in me was born then this prayer “I don’t know everything, but I know that you love me.” I find in this prayer, every day, a strength to go forward with confidence.
Normally, I live these moments alone, but there are also days when I pray with other missionaries in our group, because without prayer there would be no Community: “Being a Community – our statutes emphasize – is nourished by a continuous relationship with God, in personal and communal prayer that permeates all existence.” From there comes the fraternal service and mission that God entrusts to me every day.
