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GOOD MORNING.聽 The religious question I am asked most often as a priest is not, does God exist? But, how can I make contact? How do I pray?

I had a crashing insight early one dark morning kneeling after Mass at 7am, filled with a grumpy desire to be back in bed.聽 I looked up and saw something so beautiful and unexpected that it made me gasp with delight: the first light of dawn, streaming through stained-glass, haemorrhaging its blue-red light over me, making it luminous as a jewel box.聽 Bathing in its beauty, I realised: though I had been in that spot countless times, I had missed this 鈥� because I had never taken the time to look up.聽

I wondered: what else had I failed to see in daily life that would have lifted my heart because I was looking elsewhere.

Later, I made a list of what actually brought me daily joy.聽 It was the simple things: hot water in the shower; the first mug of coffee; the first lung full of fresh outdoor air in the morning.聽 This completely changed my attitude to everyday life.

I know nothing of what today may bring; but these little things fill me with gratitude now and a deep need to say 鈥渢hank you鈥� to the God who, for me, is not an answer to a dry equation or a weapon in an argument, but the one who fills my sense with the beauty of everyday things.

That dark morning I got it too: the heart of prayer: by opening my eyes; by giving thanks for all things, my heart was raised.

Lord, on this Shrove Tuesday, when many Christians get ready for Lent, let us see this season for what it truly is: not a morbid fixation with sin and failure, but a sharpening of our sense, so that your divine presence may touch us through the simplicity of everyday things. AMEN.