Over thirty years ago, a priest friend, Jim Bacik, offered to be my spiritual director for a week-long retreat on prayer. I agreed to spend an hour or so daily in prayer, or at least something that seemed like prayer, and to meet with him every day to discuss what I was experiencing. He loaned me a book on prayer that he thought would give me some new ideas on the topic. I remember recounting to him in one of our daily meetings that I had done some reading from the book and h