A Replica At The Altar

On October 17, 1969 the painting Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence was stolen from the altar at a Church in Palermo Italy. It was never found. Since 2015, there has been a replica at the altar.

It’s an expensive replica, scientifically constructed, which replaced a photo, but like the photograph is a replica. It strikes me how easily it can be for our prayers to become a replica of what they once were. While there will be days when our prayer will be the discipline of prayer, we must always bring our heart to it.

We must avoid allowing our prayer to become a routine. As a concrete example, we bring long term needs to God, but avoid the trap of making the request the same way each day. Prayer is a simple conversation with God, not an elaborate speech, but it is a conversation. If we repeat the same words exactly every day, it becomes less a conversation, and more a script.

Above all bring your heart to prayer, He is listening. We have an audience with not only our personal Savior, but The Lord of creation. This should never be wasted, but savored. Our human tendency, and the enemy’s opportunity, is to allow the impact to become lost.

If the enemy can not stop us from praying, he will try to cause us to slip into a dry routine. Unlike a painting though, when we come to prayer, we aren’t visiting a work of The Master, we are visiting Him. Don’t allow your audience with our Heavenly Father to be lost in routine. Bring your fervency, your full attention, and above all your worship.

When we focus completely on Him in prayer, the awesomeness of God, and the wonder of prayer itself, will surround us. We will be fully in tune with the purpose of prayer. Don’t allow routine to rob you of the full experience of prayer, above all els, avoid a replica at the altar.