Dear Brothers and Sisters,
 

I pray that our Hallow app partnership might be a great boon to our community. In partnering with them, they asked us about our goals and have been working with us to tailor our experience towards those goals. My primary goal and the motivating factor to explore this option was to encourage and enable more prayer for individuals and families. Prayer is so essential for us to stay close to God, steeped in the faith, and how our faith is meant to guide our lives. Yet prayer is often overlooked or misunderstood. For many people prayer is the first thing to go when life gets busy, when it should instead be the last thing onto which we hold. Many other people will say they do not know how to pray, or that distractions make it difficult to pray. Often when I meet with confirmation students I will ask them to lead a prayer, and many are very uncomfortable or unsure of even what to do. We need more prayer in our lives, not less. The more comfortable and consistent we get in prayer, the more likely we are to pray in times of need. Prayer is effective in recognizing God’s presence in our lives and leads us to cooperate with his grace in us. It is a strong and necessary tool by which we are able, with the help of God, to overcome temptation and turn to what is good.

​​

Our first community prayer challenge is straightforward in its title: “How to Pray.” It is a day-by-day reflection on prayer itself and its different forms. Over the two weeks – fourteen sessions – it covers a wide variety of types of prayer as well as leading through specific prayers. It teaches and guides you through the parts of the prayer, making it very easy to join them in making the prayer your own. Even if you are very familiar with prayer and have tons of experience, these sessions can help you grow in appreciation for different styles of prayer. And learning what types of prayer you like or what is most helpful for you can then help you find similar types of prayer on the Hallow app to add to your daily routine. Or you might find something a little different from your usual prayer and can find something on the app to explore it more in depth or try it for a while to add broader character to your prayer life.

​​

And if you were not able to download Hallow, did not yet join our Four Pillars in Faith community on the app, or even if you have missed out all or a few of the days of the challenge – do not worry! You can join and start that challenge today. Binge the previous sessions to catch up to the current day, or simply start wherever and continue with the group. It is also a blessing to use the app to pray as a community; to see that many others are praying and joining in the prayer challenge, or listening to other prayers or music that might inspire you to try something similar. You will likely see my name there as well and I am happy to use it to pray for you and other requests you might make. Please consider joining us in this exciting opportunity to build a greater culture of prayer in our ACC.

​

Peace in Christ,

Father Timothy