Brothers and Sisters:

How do we pray in the face of hurts and resentments? How do we assist our people to pray in times of trial and darkness? How do we pray with the uncertainty and fear we see in the lives of those we serve? 

Prayer is an "attitude" – as noted in both the Catechism of the Catholic Church as well as the General Directory for Catechesis – then we might want to check our interior attitude especially our reactions to the persecutions and struggles that come our way. 

The famous poet, William Blake, invited this kind of rigor interior examination of conscience when he penned these lines: