Like any relationship, it can be difficult to see the areas that need tweaking unless you are more personally invested, and so I went about my life: I attended my lectures, went to work, exercised and spent time with family and friends. But I had lost focus of the one who had placed all of these things in my life.

During the month of June, I was blessed to attend daily adoration. For the first few days I would sit down and look at the chapel’s icons and stained glass windows, say a prayer or two and reflect on my day. As the days passed, I began to look forward to adoration. For the entire Holy Hour, I would talk to God and thank Him and ask for His guidance. Then one evening in July I knelt on the tile floor of a small chapel and felt the presence of our Saviour in my heart.

It was in that very moment of solitude — when the smell of the incense was potent, the monstrance so bright in the dimly lit room and my heart so longing for the Lord — when every piece of my heart came together and I realized that God works the strongest when we are at our weakest and speaks the loudest when we are at our quietest.

I have come to learn that prayer is not just a conversation with God, but rather an intentional relationship in which I must constantly work at to make stronger.

I take comfort in knowing that He is my closest friend. I know that He knows how I feel without me having to say so. I know that I can admit my hopes, fears, desires and weaknesses to Him without the fear of being judged.

Like every relationship, though, I can’t be the only one doing all of the talking. I have learned to say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3: 9).

I will make mistakes and need to ask for forgiveness, fall off my ladder of faith and have to climb up again, and I will hurt and ache for healing. All of these things will happen, just as they have in the past, but I now know that I don’t have to tell God everything, all the time; He knows what’s in my heart. All I have to do is be still and listen to His voice, trusting that He will guide me on the most fruitful path there is.

(Joanes, 18, is a second-year concurrent education student at Queen’s University.)