God speaks to us when we spend time in prayer. One of the most productive activities we can do to hear Him is to become sensitive to those moments when we do recognize His presence in our lives.

       Sometimes it can be very slight, a small emotion or a word we might hear in our mind. We may recognize this as our Heavenly Father or Jesus speaking to us or manifesting His love.. We so often times pass by these amazingly profound moments. Stop for a moment to acknowledge what has taken place. Realize that the God of the Universe has spoken to you! This is not insignificant. Recall that it was the "tiny whispering sound" that led Elijah the prophet into encounter with God (cf. 1 Kings 19:11-13). What is fascinating is that as we respond to these moments with God, it often has the effect of opening a flood of graces in our prayer lives..

     We respond when we began a dialogue with God in the moment itself. We respond when we diligently make note of it and return back to this experience in our next prayer period. Here are some tools that can be very helpful in accomplishing these tasks:

     It may be humbling to realize the simple task of journaling can be helpful to this process. This is as straightforward as taking time after each daily prayer period to journal about how you experienced God's presence in the prayer. This helps create an expectation that God does speak and that you are expectant for the moment when

He will.

       Journaling draws attention to the moments when God speaks. Forming the habit of journaling makes you ready for these moments of encounter when they come.

     Your journaling will be better served by simply describing what happened during the prayer than by analyzing. Write down your feelings, thoughts, dsires and what you imagined during the prayer.  

     Paying attention to the work of the Holy Spirit in our prayer means that we respond by staying present to the dialogue

our prayer means that we respond by staying present to the dialogue God initiates with us. We do this at the moment by not moving forward with our reading material or prayers but staying present and receptive to the movement before us.

     When we recognize God speaking to us, we return to this experience and/or Scripture passage the next time we pray and ask Him if He has anything more to say. If He keeps speaking, continue to go back over and over to that place of prayer. God may even lead you into a deep contemplation of silence.

     Finally, the practice of spiritual direction can be beneficial for noticing and highlighting our experiences of God so as to not easily pass by them. Holy conversations with a spouse or spiritual friend also can be helpful. (Father Ross LaFramboise is pastor of St. Philip Neri in Napoleon, N.D.)