Prayer

“I don’t know how to pray without beseeching,” I replied to this challenging soul I call mentor, friend. Her morning ritual includes prayer, on one’s knees, in supplication. I resist fiercely but not because I don’t do humble. My head is full of Catholic. Nuns-in-charge-type Catholic, where prayer is begging to be spared punishment marketed as communication with the capital G god; the daily bread of rapture. “Hail Mary full of grace… bless us oh lord and these thy gifts… if I should die before I wake”… My memories of Catholic prayer are like mantras for the hell-bound seeking deliverance. I am eight years old, under my bed at boarding…