Reinhard: I have been asked that a time or two, though not like that. Lopez: Do you get asked “why do Catholics worship Mary” questions? How do you tend to respond? It’s a way to turn to God through His mother, and I find great comfort in that. Reinhard: For one thing, it’s Scripture! For another thing, it’s short and easy.įor me, the Hail Mary is a “blankie prayer,” the one I turn to when I don’t have words for the desires and worries and weights on my heart. Lopez: What’s so special about the Hail Mary? Maybe instead of seeing slowing down as a destination, we need to see it as a moveable sort of metric, something that’s relative. I guess what I’m saying is that it’s only as impossible as you make it. If it’s 2 minutes before you get out of bed in the morning, go with that. If it’s 15 seconds in the bathroom, where you go to a quiet mental state, then do that. Reinhard: You’re describing my life right now! Lopez: What if it’s impossible to slow down, period? So much of our lives are instant: communication, information, travel… slowing down is a way to remind ourselves that we are human beings, not human doings. Though she’s not Catholic, I wonder if she’s slower in her prayers.Įven so, I think the concept of slowing down is one that we don’t fully appreciate. That said, I think of people like my 87-year-old grandmother, whose pace of life is so much different than mine (because her season of life is different), and I wonder.