A flash of distraction

Flash and dark. Another flash there. Dark. Flash here again, I shift my eyes, then dark. I sat amazed, searching for the next wink of light as the fireflies around me lit up the air. One wasn’t enough, I needed to see more and spot the next bug.

I was sitting in the middle of a forest in North Carolina, blessed to be able to take a short hiking trip in between my missionary work. I had never seen real fireflies before, and they were amazing!

Many would say that we live in a distracted world, an instant culture where we are constantly looking for the next bit of excitement to satisfy our attention. I felt like that with the fireflies. I wasn’t happy to just see one insect light up and be done. I went from one spark of light to another, scanning the darkness for the next flash to catch my notice.

In our world filled with amazing technology and entertainment, young people have become used to instantaneous communication and immediate gratification by flicking channels in a matter of seconds. Or “WhatsApp-ing” a friend to see what they’re up to and fill time. Are we losing the ability to be silent?

I know many young people who don’t like to be alone and don’t know what to do with their time when they aren’t with friends. I know a few who feel bored and maybe a little lost when they don’t have their cellphone or can’t get on to Facebook. This is the culture of “doing” which we are faced with every day: a pull towards constant activity, rather than “being” and enjoying the adventure of the moment we are in and the people we are with. I think that young people today have a real struggle in living out their faith and growing their relationship with God because they are constantly distracted. When compared to this busyness, sitting in silent prayer can seem nearly impossible.

I’ve come to learn that prayer is not just something that we do. It is responding to God, who tirelessly calls us first (Catechism #2567). A solution to our culture of distraction is learning to be silent and hear God’s voice in the quietness within us. Pope Benedict has said that “it is in silence that we find God, and in silence that we discover our true self”. Paraphrasing Bl John Paul II, our lives remain senseless and incomprehensible if we do not encounter love and participate in it intimately (Redemptoris Hominis, 10).

Our young people need the sacraments, but they need to intimately encounter Christ in silent prayer just as much. Maybe this is why Pope Benedict has begun a new series of teachings on prayer? We are in need of quiet time to bring our busyness to God so that we can grow closer to him. Then we can find our true identity and purpose. As a young person myself, I need all the help I can get to do this.

In our world of distraction, there are fireflies of hope. Some families and young people in the Church are praying together regularly. There are groups of young adults who meet weekly in the United States to pray the rosary and sing praise and worship together.

I’ve also participated in a gathering of thousands of young people sitting in quiet Eucharistic adoration, as we also saw happening at World Youth Day last month. Similar good news can be found more and more in South Africa with the “Exalt” nights of worship and adoration. The light is growing.

I used to struggle with hearing God through my distraction, but spending an hour a day in silent prayer while I was in the US changed my life and I’m learning to recognise God’s voice. This has helped me to live more peacefully and freely.

Who or what has helped you to grow in your prayer? Do you, or the young people you know, get bored or frustrated when they sit down to pray? Do you wish you knew how to really hear God and recognise what he’s saying to you?

Let’s share the fruit!