PRAYER; ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE

 

Some further thoughts on PRAYER, from reflections on Matthew 7; 7-12, the Gospel for Thursday of 1st Week in Lent.  

 

 

"Ask and it will be given to you ..."  (Mt 7:7)   This passage can be extremely unsettling when we ask and do not receive what we ask for.  The promise seems to be clear.   But there are times when our prayers are not answered in the way we are asking, and very difficult things happen.   We seem to be handed a stone instead of bread, a snake instead of a fish.   If we would not do this to our children,  why would God do it to us?  We ask to be kept safe,  but we are broken open.  Only slowly have I realized that it has been in that breaking open that I have come closer to God.  It may not have been the bread I had asked for,  but it was the Bread of Life."      (Patricia Livingston in LIVING WITH CHRIST daily meditation for Feb. 26, 2015.)

 

 

"The sense of the Lord's words in the Greek language of the Gospel is to "keep on asking",  to "keep on knocking", and to "keep on praying".  This is not a recommendation to bombard heaven since the Lord told us not to rattle on and on in prayer.   Rather,  He asks us to keep the attitude of prayer so that we can recognize the answer when it comes in an unconventional guise.  Prayer attunes us to discern God's response in the events of our life.  Perhaps we limit the kind of response we expect God to give to our prayers.  When it is answered in a way different from what we expect,  we can fail to recognize it.  If we keep the attitude of prayer, we will find that the Father does answer us in His own way."   (Fr. S. Joseph Krempa in  DAILY HOMILIES  (Seasonal)  p. 69.)

 

 

"In the Gospel,  Jesus tells us in a number of ways that God always answers prayer.  The tone of Jesus' words is not one encouraging us to lay out in specific detail for what we are praying (e.g., the model, unit number, size, and color of something we want), but the tone is simply that we trust God.   We need confidence in God and confidence that God will do what is best for us whether it's what we pray for or not.  Possibly,  more prayer should be about asking to be in tune with God rather than asking for specific items which we think we absolutely need.   Prayer doesn't really change things around us like altering the laws of meteorology or physics;  it more likely changes us.    Only persistence in prayer and regular practice of prayer can teach us how life-changing prayer really is."    (Fr. Don Talafous in HOMILIES for Weekdays - Year I,  p. 35/36.)

 

 

MORE on the LORD'S PRAYER

 

Fr. Don Talafous, writing in HOMILIES for Weekdays,  offers us another reflection on prayer based on the Scriptures for Tuesday of the First Week of Lent:

 

How can God get a word in?

 

Perhaps we can let today's words from Jesus (Mt 6: 7-15),  helped by Isaiah (55:10-11), remind us that our prayer includes listening and not simply saying words.   At times we act in prayer to God in the same way as a person sitting nervously with a new acquaintance.   We feel we have to be saying something every minute;  we find little pauses in the conversation embarrassing.   How different it is with someone we know very well;  we can sit together, gazing at a fire or listening to music, without feeling that one of us has to be saying something every moment.   Jesus says that in prayer we shouldn't rattle on or multiply words.  Isn't it true that what our prayer lacks so often is just some space and silence which allow God actually to influence our minds and hearts?   The author of Isaiah says that the word of God is like rain or snow that softens the earth and makes it fertile, eventually bringing forth its crops.   True prayer is a dialogue and not merely a one-sided conversation dominated completely by us.   God's work in us requires that we leave God some opening, a chance to be heard.  In our world of so much noise and so little tolerance for silence,  it may be hard for us to learn to be quiet before God.  But it's definitely worth the effort.   In silence we may experience our minds wandering all over the place.  To minimize these distractions, it may help to take a phrase from the Gospel or one of the readings and keep coming back to those inspired words gently, while trying to focus our attention.   Silence and attentiveness can be learned.  This may be a helpful way to stay with what is going on at Mass, too;  coming back to some favorite phrase.  

 

 

PRAYER REFLECTION

(winter look at the Prayer Fraternity)

 

The Gospel for the Tuesday of the First Week of Lent is from Matthew 6:7-15 and is Jesus teaching about prayer;  offering in that teaching the words of the OUR FATHER.  Fr. S. Joseph Krempa in his DAILY HOMILIES reflection for today has some important things on prayer for us to consider:

 

The Lord gives the disciples an example of how they are to pray:   with economy, trust and intimacy with God.   Like making love,  prayer is one of the things we all have to do on our own.  Nobody can do it for us.  Speaking with God is an intensely personal event.  

 

There are two extremes that make prayer difficult.   The first confuses prayer with our daily routine.  Prayerful living is not identical with prayer.  If getting through the day is the extent of our prayer life,  prayer loses its distinctive character.  The opposite extreme identifies prayer exclusively with surges of mysticism.  A rapid pulse and wild transports of spiritual passion are not attractive to many people.   There must be a middle ground between the two.   This is what the Lord describes.

 

We should have a set time for personal prayer.   In addition to our regular prayers, we should find a time when we are most at ease to simply communicate with the Lord and not be interrupted by anything else.   Some people even set aside a place of prayer in their homes.   Secondly,  our prayer should be authentic.   There is no need for us to posture before God or recite prayers written by a great saint which we think God will like to hear.  Thirdly,  we should await the Lord's response.   After a while,   we will not be greeted by silence.   We will slowly tune in to the Holy Spirit.

 

An important meaning of the Lord's Prayer is that we can contact the God of the universe.   Reading a great deal about prayer is not initially helpful.   Like teaching,  litigating,  preaching, driving or swimming,  we have to start at some point and will improve slowly.   After several months of experience,  books will be more helpful.  

 

Through prayer, we locate the still point inside ourselves.   When we locate that point,  there we will find the Spirit of Christ. 

 

 

LENTEN REFLECTION for prayer

 

 

wof@wordonfire.org

 

If you would like to add a daily Lenten reflection to your prayer,  there is a very good one available online from Fr. Robert Barron,  a priest from the Archdiocese of Chicago who teaches at their major seminary in Mundelein.   You can access it from that website given above.