a life of prayer

It’s an old story.They say that Pierre got it from Isidore,who got it from Anselme,who got it from tradition.

In those days, there was s poor cow keeperwho kept cows very high in the mountains.The more he went up for pasture, the more his blue eyesreflected the sky because his heart lived with God forever.

Sunday morning,when the jubilant clink of bellswent up from the valley,he knelt in the middle of the animals,

And while his dog Médor looked at him,

He prayed:Lord, my brothers of the valley are lucky,together, they praise and bless you.

They sing to youwith the organ and the guitar,

They magnify you with candles and frankincense.

And I, poor man, I have only to give you as music the twittering of the swallows,

As frankincense the fragrance of the edelweiss.

As cithare the whisper of the wind in the firs.

And as homily,I hear only the silence of my heart.

Then, Lord, listen to my prayer:If you have a cow to keep, put it in my care,for you, I shall keep it for nothing, to the best of my ability, because I love you. Amen.

A Roman theologian of great fame,who by chance was in the thereabouts – it was the time of his vacationheard the prayer of the cow keeper with the blue eyes and of golden heart.

He says to him: « Dear friend, certainly, it is good to pray,but it is necessary that the prayer complies with sound theology. »Because God, the Creator of the sky and earth, does not have cow to be kept, He who is a pure spirit.

He taught him, therefore, to pray theologically. He showed him also how to meditate in three points (thesis, antithesis and synthesis).Finally, he recommended him to memorize the songs of the Graduale Simplex, which the Pope (with glory reigning) had asked all Christians to know by heart.

Then, he continued his excursion.

He had not arrived at the turn of the path that the cow keeper with the golden heart had forgotten everything.For a week, he did not dare to pray any more.

He thought:« Lord, the prayer that I knew, it was not good.And the one that is good, I do not know it.»And big tears came down from his blue eyes.

Médor, seeing him crying, licked his hands.

Sunday morning, when the carillon of the exultant bells went up from the valley to celebrate the day of the Lord, he knelt among the animals and quietly murmured (so that no theologians could hear it). « Lord, if I dared to pray I shall say to you that if you had a cow to be kept – or even several – for you I would keep them for nothing, simply, because I love you. Amen. »

« The prayer of the humble, says the Scripture, pieces the clouds. » The prayer of the cow keeper went straight up to the throne of God.

And God called his Angels and said:« This Sunday morning is the prayer of the cow keeper that I like best, because other prayed with words or canticles.He prays with his life. »

There are today many cow keepers who pray with their lives.There also theologians who pray.

What count is that our prayer may be an expression of our life.Because our whole life is a prayer.

Text: + Lucien Deiss, C.S.Sp.

The Sister Disciples of the Divine Master

Canada - 2011

http://pages.infinit.net/ddm