It's simple.

It's a lot easier to take the prophet Micah's prescription at 6 in the morning when you are running through a glorious cool morning with a rosary in hand.

Everything seems so clear and simple then:

What, then does the Lord require of you,

but to do justly, and to love mercy,

and to walk humbly with your God?

But, heh, then a big, long day intervenes.

A huge spreadsheet re-do at work.

A moving funeral Mass for a 91 year old priest (Msgr. Sweeney, I know you're praying for me)

Last but not least coming home to find the dog had messed up the house... really messed it up. First time in six years... he just got sick all over for the place. Poor Jack!

But now it's 8:30 p.m. I've cleaned the house up, mowed the yard, prayed Evening Prayer, made and eaten homemade Roma tomato soup. I've watched "Dr. Who" with the obligatory bowl of vanilla ice cream and now the crickets are quietly chirping outside the open window.

It all seems simple once again when I get to slow down and thank God for one very long but fulfilling day.

You have revealed these things to the childlike

As Jesus reminds us in today's Gospel (Matthew 11:25-27) sometimes less is more, humility is exalted, the simple becomes profound.

William of Saint-Thierry (around 1085-1148), Benedictine, then Cistercian Monk

From The Mirror of Faith 6

"When nature hesitates before mysteries of faith that are too deep, say without fear, not in opposition but with the desire to obey [like Mary]: “How can this be?” (Lk 1:34) May your question be a prayer; may it be love, piety, humble desire; may it not haughtily scrutinize the divine majesty, but may it seek salvation in the means of salvation given by the God of our deliverance.

“No one knows what lies at the depths of God but the Spirit of God.” (1 Cor 2:11). So hasten to be in communion with the Holy Spirit. He is there as soon as we call upon him. If someone calls upon him, it is because he is already present. When called, he comes; he comes in the abundance of divine blessings. It is he, the “stream whose runlets gladden the city of God.” (Ps 46:5)

If, when he comes, he finds you humble and without anxiety, but trembling at the word of God, he will rest upon you (Isa 11:2) and will reveal to you what God hides from the wise and prudent of this world. Then will begin to shine forth for you all the truths, which Wisdom could tell the disciples while she was on earth, but which they could not bear before the coming of the Spirit of truth, who would teach them the whole truth (Jn 16:12-13)."

About Prayer: What's Really Important

From Blessed Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997), Foundress of the Missionary Sisters of Charity

"In order for prayer to be fruitful, it must come from the heart and be able to touch God’s heart. See how Jesus taught his disciples to pray. Every time we say the “Our Father”, I believe that God looks at his hands, at the place where he has engraved us: “Upon the palms of my hands I have written your name.” (Isa 49:16) God contemplates his hands, and he sees us there, nestling in them.

How marvelous is God’s tenderness! Let us pray, let us say the “Our Father”. Let us live it and then we will be saints. Everything is there: God, myself, my neighbor. If I forgive, I can be holy, I can pray. Everything comes from a humble heart; when we have such a heart, we will know how to love God, how to love ourselves, and how to love our neighbor (Mt 22:37f.). That is nothing complicated, and yet we complicate our lives so much and make them heavy with so many extra loads.

Only one thing counts: to be humble and to pray. The more you pray, the better you will pray. A child encounters no difficulty in expressing its ingenuous understanding in simple words that say a lot. Didn’t Jesus give Nicodemus to understand that we must become like a small child (Jn 3:3)? If we pray according to the Gospel, we will allow Christ to grow in us. So pray with love, the way children do, with the ardent desire to love much and to make beloved the person who is not loved. "