On page 63 of Christ, God's Companionship with Man, I started reading about prayer and the communitarian spirit. So, it says in the first paragraph, "Christian prayer is never an isolated act of a solitary "I", but comes alive and is nurtured within the experience of community." Alright, this is the second time in a week that something has happened to me in my bedroom while I'm alone. (Key word: alone).

I was alone in my room reading this section on prayer and community, and it says Christian prayer is never an act of a solitary "I". I thought, 'yes that right! We pray at GS like this, I'm praying like that now... Wait....I'm alone in my room with the door shut reading by myself.' I laughed at myself for doing the opposite of what the book says, in a way. Something compelled me to open my door. And there, right next to my door, was Anthony. I actually asked him if he wanted to come and read this with me; to be in community. HE DID! And we read together. Anyway, we had a great time and talked about the text after. The best part is still ahead though!

After all this I walk upstairs to get a pen, in order to write this experience down in my GS notebook. While I was writing it all down my sister Catie came in and asked me what I was doing.

I completely shut down; this whole pride-thing came over me. I thought in my head, 'she doesn't know GS. I don't need to tell her what I'm writing about because she wouldn't understand.' And then, I shocked myself as a realized what I did again. I went back to her and shared some of my latest experiences.

I know that all this happened for one reason: to have God show me how important community prayer is. I used to giggle every time someone started a community prayer; I thought it wasn't very helpful. ABSOLUTELY NOT! It also helped me realize that prayer is good when you are alone, too. Right after Anthony left my room I thanked God privately in a personal way. By literally telling him thank you. That too was an amazing experience I can hardily talk about.

Max


My grandma passed away last October. It still feels like it was yesterday... I had a beautiful companion in my grandma, her name was Ann. She was a role model to me, being one of the only members of my family I could talk about the faith with. We had a mutual love for the Church.

Every since she has passed I have struggled with her death and the memories I have of her. They're beautiful memories, but whenever they are brought up in my head it often leads to me pushing them out, because it is too painful to think about her not being here to make new memories.

Ann's birthday was January 8th, so I had been dreading this week because of the thought that I can't call her to wish her a happy birthday.

I have been crying out (prayerfully and literally) to Christ in search of a sense of peace or something to heal this open wound ever since she had died.

Tonight I found some...

I was literally crying to Jesus like He was sitting in front of me and I spoke to Him like a friend, a companion. I asked Him, in a way, to reveal to me how He could've related to this at all and to help me heal through Him. (This is because I had always been told that Jesus can relate to our own personal situations.) He revealed to me that His grandma's name was also Anne...and even though I don't really know when she died, I'm assuming Jesus witnessed it. This is when I started to laugh, while crying. Hahaha. I realized that even though this happened to Him, He still lived the life He was sent to this earth for.

Through my companionship within Jesus, He comforted me. He had been through the same thing...and that is where I found peace. Peace in the fact that one day my grandma Ann and I will be reunited in the companionship of Heaven. And it was through companionship that my friends kept on inviting me to GS, and without GS now, I might have never found that peace.

Thank you so much for introducing me to companionship that was right in front of my face.

Abi, South Dakota, USA