Is God speaking to you through a new interest or prayer?

The Holy Family and Leaning into Our Attractions

Recently I’ve sought out the Holy Family. While the three are most noticeable during the Christmas season in the Nativity, I’ve noticed them everywhere during the ordinary time months, sans manger.  

I stop to peer into paintings, carved statues, and renditions of the three hearts, the trio offering me satiating mementos of their togetherness and unity. I’m considering a Holy Family collection.   

I haven’t always been fascinated by the Holy Family. I wonder why and where it comes from.  

In the past, I would have thought nothing of a new attraction; I would have dismissed the desire to collect mementos as a passing fancy. As a minimalist not prone to accumulating, I would have told myself I have room for nary a thing. But now, instead, I pay attention to what I’m drawn to, giving space for the reason behind it to unfold.  

Tuning into what I’m attracted to was a lesson permanently imprinted in my mind when I discovered the Divine Mercy prayers. Soon after the Church released to the flock the chaplet and Jesus’ message to St. Faustina, I became unusually attracted to the Divine Mercy prayers. I carried the chaplet booklet with me everywhere and recited the prayers throughout the day, the 'Jesus I Trust in You' mantra continuously in my head and on my lips. Only later did it smack me as to why.  

In the middle of my fascination with the Divine Mercy, my dad fell ill and his sickness turbo-sped into a nosedive descent. My sisters, mom, and I kept vigil visiting him in the hospital.   

Surreally, we found ourselves at his deathbed only a month after his diagnosis. When my dad drew his last breath, the Divine Mercy prayers, by then memorized by heart, gushed out -- a torrent of grief mixed with hope.   

I realized then the why of my unusual and deep attraction to the prayers and messages of the Divine Mercy. It became a raft of hope to buoy me at the shock of my father’s sudden death. It was an intercessory prayer -- hope for the man who had no religion during his life.  

Eternal Father, I offer you the body and blood, soul and divinity of you dearly beloved Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ…For the sake of His sorrowful passion have mercy on us and on the whole world…Jesus, I trust in You. Jesus, I trust in You. Jesus, I trust in You.  

This experience was a lesson in paying attention to my spiritual attractions, especially new ones.   

St. Ignatius believed that our deepest longings reflect God’s desires in us and for us. Ignatian spirituality focuses more on the heart than the intellect. It holds that our choices and decisions are often beyond the merely rational or reasonable. God is present in our lives through ordinary events and interactions with people, and even through our feelings and emotional responses.  

There is such a thing as disordered desires, which are not from God or in keeping with scripture. To discern well, Ignatius advised we pay attention to the heart, test the attraction, and choose the desire that increases love and hope.   

In the end, God is the ultimate end of all human desire. In keeping with our stages and readiness to receive more of Him, He offers stepping stones along the ultimate way. If the attraction stems from the Holy Spirit, God will supply the why in His due time.   

Similar to my attraction to the Divine Mercy, God may reveal in time why Holy Family images and artwork are captivating. But for now, I’m content with keeping company with the trio in some Joyful mysteries of the rosary…  

The Nativity (Luke 2:7-9), Presentation of Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:23), Finding of Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:41-49), and 

in the image of Mother, Father, and Son that I gaze upon every morning (as part of my new, one-and-only-ever collection).  

Do you have a recent interest or prayer that may stem from God?