PRAYER REFLECTION by Alice Camille

 

PRAYER ISN'T FOR SISSIES:

 

This reflection by Alice Camille appears in her Lenten book:  WORKING TOWARD SAINTHOOD:  Daily Reflections for Lent.  (2013 by Twenty-third Publications).    It is paired with today's readings for Thursday of the 1st Week of Lent about Esther's prayers to God on behalf of her Jewish people  (Esther C:12, 14-16, 23-25) and  Matthew's Gospel passage encouraging us to Ask, Seek, and Find  (Mt 7:7-12).

 

 

Prayer isn't for sissies.   In the Bible,  when the heroes get down on their faces or up on their feet to pray, they gather all the chutzpah they can to tell God precisely what's on their minds.  So Abraham once dickered with God over the fate of Sodom.   So Moses climbed Mt. Sinai to meet his Maker and receive the Law.  So the boy Solomon asked for wisdom to rule.  So the prophets insisted God back up oracles with action.  So widows accosted prophets and demanded they make good on their promises.  In the gospels, the woman who grabs the hem of Jesus' clothes, the centurion who asks Jesus to order a healing without bothering to come under his roof, and the mother who begs Jesus to heal her non-Jewish daughter are all operating out of the same spiritual playbook.  If you want something from God, don't beat around the bush.  Say what you mean and go for it.

 

The three great female protagonists of the Old Testament -- Ruth, Judith, and Esther -- are all drawn as women desperate and determined enough to seize the day in very unladylike ways.  This makes for wonderful drama as Ruth secures a husband and future,   Judith vanquishes an enemy, and Esther saves a nation:  all in a day's work for these holy women!   It's not just about the drama, or these books wouldn't be in the Bible.  It's about whole-souled confidence in God, the kind that speaks and acts fearlessly.

 

By contrast, a lot of the praying we do in church is pretty tepid,  truth be told.  The words are pious and flowery.   They're doctrinally correct but technical and passionless.   They sound like they were written by a committee, and some of them are.  It's as if we're secretly afraid to ask for too much or to expect anything at all from God.  It's easier to hide behind formulas that dilute our intercessions down to nothing much.  Do we think God doesn't care, or that no one's really listening?

 

IDEA FOR THE DAY:   Pray like a biblical hero.  Tell God what's going on, how you feel, what you need.  Be encouraged by the example of Jesus, who asked forgiveness for his enemies, wondered if God had abandoned him, and still surrendered his spirit to God in the end.