Gobsmacked! This singular English word captures perfectly the sense of gratitude and communion that prayer often brings to me. Or, perhaps better put... brings me to. A few summers back, a brother priest and cherished friend once snapped a quick picture of me in prayer with his cell phone camera as we enjoyed each others company at my cottage, nestled alongside the majestic Ottawa River. With the grace of years of discipline and experience, I saw in that photo the look of a happy man. When I was young and far less practiced in the regimes of prayer, penance and discipline, I think I would have probably thought the old guy in the picture looked spaced out... or asleep! Today, as I once again sat here in prayer and quiet, the word suddenly came to me which captures the expression on my face in that photo: Gobsmacked. I’ve written from my personal experiences of pain, shame, and difficulty in the wake of the clergy sex and financial scandals many times, and in in many places, t