Twenty-Third PublicationsLast summer I found my granddaughter sitting on a tree branch, eyes closed and her hands clasped over her heart. When asked what she was doing, my little mystic replied, "I'm praying in my heart to God."  It may see odd, but Jesus doesn't talk that much about prayer.  His disciples and those to whom he preached lived in a society where many prayers were prayed throughout the day.  Only once does Jesus tell us how we are to pray and the prayer he gave us is preserved through many translations down through the centuries. We are to pray simply and directly for the grace to accept God's will for us, for what we need today, for the forgiveness of our sins, and for the ability to forgive others their sins against us. Jesus gave us a short prayer--only 56 words in the translations we use at Mass- and it's a brilliant summary of the Christian life.