VIRIDITAS: SOUL GREENING
Interviewed by Sister Malia Dominica Wong, OP
Hawaii Catholic Herald
There is a story of a person who was rushing to finish work and everything else in order to get to the mosque on time for prayer. Unfortunately, he still arrived late and wasn’t able to participate in the service. In great disappointment, he let out a loud sigh, “Aghhhh …” God heard him and said, “That, is the best prayer.”
We all go around in circles a lot of times as we plan for the numerous big feast days of the church. But what can compare to all of that in giving God what we desire to? Just knowing one is in the presence of God should be satisfaction enough. Because God knows what is going on and sees to it that nothing is going to harm us. This comes with our wanting to just be alone, to relax, and to be quiet in him.
The Christmas season is a very good example of how everything around us, and even within ourselves, often gets really crazy. When we finally do get to the church for Mass and sit in the pew, maybe more times than not, we might hear ourselves letting go a sigh of relief. “Ahhhhhh …,” we might say, as everything around us comes to a pause. This is the best prayer we can probably offer. It is sincere and real at the moment. We might even feel a sense of satisfaction as we let go of controlling even time, and simply ease into being. We always want someone bigger than us to be kind to us and back us up. When we surrender, we throw ourselves so to speak, into God’s hands. As we sigh, we say “Thank you, Lord,” and take a good rest, “Amen.”
One afternoon, as I was leaving the church, someone came up to me and began to pour out the difficulties being faced. As I listened, I thought, “What is the big deal?” Reflecting over the situation, I saw that I needed to remember that was the other person, not me, that was talking. Luckily, I was able to offer that person an outlet to get the problem off one’s chest and feel okay about it. It was another “Ahhhhhh …” moment of recognizing Who really knows what is going on, and letting go.
In my personal prayer, I just talk to God. What do I say? “Whatever.” As for formal prayer, I use the breviary praying with the Psalms in Latin. Even though I’m not very proficient in Latin, I enjoy reading the Latin text. I translate the Psalms as I pray them and allow myself to be enriched with the imagery that arises from reading the texts in this way, rather than being filled with other’s ideas from their translations of the texts into English. God is universal. There is always so much more that we are gifted and graced with than we may think. And sometimes, recognition of such begins with the humble prayer of the sigh.
Father Thomas Choo is a local Kaimuki vocation who became a Sacred Hearts priest. He has been ordained 46 years. He is the parochial vicar of St. Patrick Church in Kaimuki and resides at St. Patrick’s Monastery.
