Sowing God's Spirit is Rooted in Prayer

by Monica Pugh | January 5, 2026

Our Jubilee Year of Hope has ended but our journey in prayer is never-ending. God is always waiting to welcome us into conversation. He desires to spend time with each of us. Our desire for prayer with him is our pursuit of holiness. The saints, sinners who toiled like us on their own paths toward holiness, left behind great wisdom. They teach us by their own example how to engage in our pursuit as we ask them to intercede for us.

Welcome to a new year on prayer with the saints.

St. Teresa of Avila, a Carmelite nun and the first female doctor of the church, wrote extensively on her experiences with prayer and meditation. One of her most famous works, The Interior Castle, was written for her Carmelite sisters to guide them on their journey in prayer. She also describes prayer in four stages we can relate to today.

As seed catalogs begin to arrive in mail boxes soon after the holiday decorations are packed away, we long for warmer temps and the beauty of spring to arrive. We purchase seeds preparing to labor in order to have prosperous crops and beautiful flowers. Sowing seeds is labor. Prayer also requires labor. Prayer is the soil where our seeds of faith grow. St. Teresa of Avila describes this first stage of prayer as labor-intensive requiring perseverance while relying on God’s grace. It is at this stage where God is watering the seeds in our soul with the water we labor and draw from the well.

During St. Teresa’s second stage the water wheel arrives making our toiling of drawing water less work. With each turn the water wheel waters our prayer garden as we settle in with greater focus and prayers flowing more freely. With this growth in faith our souls experience great trust in God. My water wheel comes in the form of a prayer corner. The regularity in this space each morning provides warm sunshine for my prayer garden.

When the third stage arrives our prayer garden is being water regularly by a steady stream. The labor wanes and we rest in God’s presence. Prayer becomes a time of relationship with God allowing the Holy Spirit to point out areas needing watered or weeded. It is a time of surrender seeking God throughout our day not only in our prayer space. This stage is not without difficulty as growth is often accompanied by struggle. But we rely on the perseverance we learned in stage one and continue.

And, finally, the rains come and God’s love overwhelms our soul. Rain requires no labor from the gardener. St. Teresa calls this stage Prayer of Union where grace rushes towards us and God makes our prayer garden flourish. We are refreshed in this moment where God brings forth the beauty. These moments of grace might only bloom for a short time like some flowers but their beauty is worth the labor.

Perhaps today is the day to ask for St. Teresa of Avila’s intercession to guide us on our prayer journey into the garden of God’s grace.