To pray is a MUST
Listening to the Spirit
Prayer: Prayer of a Disciple
Dear Father,
You are the creative origin of all I am
and of all, I am called to be,
with the talents and opportunities I have,
how may I serve you best?
Please guide my mind and heart.
Open to me the needs of my country and of the world
and help me to choose wisely and practically
for your honor and glory
and for the good of all those whose lives I touch.
Amen.
Listening to the Word
Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and do not subject us to the final test.” And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend to whom he goes at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer him,’ and he says in reply from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked and my children and I are already in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.’ I tell you, if he does not get up to give the visitors the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence. “And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”
Reflection
1. In the past two Sundays, we may say, St. Luke was describing to us who is a true disciple of Jesus. A true disciple of Jesus is both like a good Samaritan and like Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha. A disciple of Jesus is not only someone who does something (an active person like the good Samaritan) but also someone who listens to Jesus, like Mary. Allowing the Word of God to form, inform and transform oneself.
2. This Sunday, in the Gospel, the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. Man by nature is religious, “homo religiosus”. In the Catechism: “the desire for God is inscribed in the human heart because man is created by God and for God” (CCC 27). There is in every human being a longing, a thirst, and a need for God that impels him to seek and desire Him.
3. The answer of Jesus to the request of the disciples is the prayer of Our Father. Jesus seemingly didn’t teach them what to do, what to say, or which words to use while praying. Jesus focused rather on a relationship, an attitude. When we pray, we are communicating with God while remaining united with our fellow human beings. We enter into a relationship where the “I” becomes “we; the “me” becomes “us”.
4. Prayer is a relationship between me/us and God. Therefore, I have the right to call him Father. Second, I am related to him. It means I can call, and talk to him anytime, anywhere, and even if he is sleeping, I can wake him up, and he will listen to me and try to please me like a true father. I shall need to be persistent, confident, and humble.
5. I know as a priest that I have a sacred duty to be the official pray-er of the church. My office, duty, and job in the church are to pray. To pray daily with and for the Church.
6. I must pray. You must pray. We must pray. For us to survive, PRAY. P- Pray; R- Repent; A- Ask; Y- Yield.
Reflection Questions
Gospel Reflections
Allowing Jesus to Change Us
Who Is Jesus for Me? From Encounter to Mission
