In this section, Cardinal Sarah continues to talk about those whose sole mission is to pray as pillars of the church. In this context, those who pray are supporting the work of the church and its mission through their constant intercession with God. This made me think of the many ways we are all called to be pillars in different aspects of our life. As a son, father, deacon, business owner, I am called to be a pillar. In reflecting on this, I can look at times in my life where I was a very shaky pillar at best and the primary cause of this was the lack of a prayer foundation in my life. There was too much self reliance and frankly not any God reliance. I thought my strength came from myself instead of from God. I did not realize that the foundation is built on spending time with God in silence. When I started to spend more time in prayer, the cement inside my pillar became stronger through the presence of Christ. I have a lot of cracks in my pillar, but God actually uses these visible cracks to help heal other people. Through more real prayer time, God has shown me I am not defined by my mistakes but by Him. I have especially learned that being a praying pillar is the best thing I can do for situations I have no control over. I have to let Jesus take care of those things I have no control over so they don’t take control over me. I used to spend a lot of time regretting the past or wishing I could of done things differently. Things I now have no control over because they are in the past. Through spending time in silence, God keeps me focused on the present because that is exactly where He is.
