Psalm 69 is “A Cry of Anguish in Great Distress,” which speaks to what our Lord Jesus Christ bore in the sufferings described within the psalm uniquely. This accounts for the fact that, after Psalm 22, this is the psalm most quoted in the New Testament to show that it was fulfilled in Jesus Christ and to exhort us to find in its text, as in all Scripture, the consolation that helps to keep our hope alive. Today, our reflection verse from Psalm 69 speaks of communication with God. This communication is traditionally characterized as prayer. Why do you pray? What do we seek from God? Oblate Fr. Robert Michel asks: What exactly does it mean to pray affectively? His response might be summarized this way: “You must try to pray so that, in your prayer, you open yourself in such a way that sometime – perhaps not today, but sometime – you are able to hear God say to you: `I love you!’ These words, addressed to you by God, are the most important words you will ever hear because, before you hear them, nothing is ever completely right with you, but after you hear them, something will be right in your life at a very deep level.” Oblate Fr. Ron Rolheiser writes that Fr. Michel’s words are simple, but they capture what we ultimately try to do when we “lift mind and heart to God” in prayer. In the end, prayer’s essence, mission statement, and deep raison d’etre are simply this: We need to open ourselves to God so that we are capable of hearing God say to us individually, “I love you!” Part of affective prayer is also that we, one- to-one, with affection, occasionally at least, say the same thing to God: “I love you!” In all long-term, affectionate relationships, the partners must occasionally prompt each other to hear expressions of affection and reassurance. It’s not good enough to tell a marriage partner or a friend just once, “I love you!”. It needs to be said regularly. The relationship of prayer is no different. Prayer, it is said, is not meant to change God but us. True. And nothing changes us as much for the good as to hear someone say that he or she loves us, especially if that someone is God.