Sacrament is the Simplest Form of Prayer

"Imagine a small agricultural community at the turn of the century where the need for social justice has just begun to make itself felt. A 'leader' identifies some grievances against the landowner, his employer, and at a certain point, he is delegated to go to the town and confront the boss. None of the workers has ever been to what must have seemed a great metropolis and, after putting on a show of euphoria at the very idea in front of his mates, who would have given him a hearty and noisy send-off, the delegate feels apprehension creeping over him on his journey. He arrives at a town, and almost forces himself to begin his odyssey and look for the employer's address. He gets lost once, twice, three times before he at last finds the boss's office. He asks to see him and there he stands, before the boss. But all the arguments he has so painstakingly formulated with his workmates cloud over in his mind. He knows that he is there for a good reason. He knows and personally espouses the whole cause. However, he cannot utter a word. So was all the effort — his and his workmates — just a waste of time? Of course not. His presence there, which was such a rare thing in the whole course of relations between that boss and his workers at that time, had not been futile even though he was unable to articulate what he had come to say. The presence of this man, fumbling, stuttering, standing there twiddling his hat, is still the act of asking. It is a presence which can yet be defined as 'asking,' and the request is not abstract." Why the Church? 197-198.