Monday, June 29, 2020

Prayer: Action Verb!

I have been focusing on prayer a lot these days.  I think it is because I don't know what else to do during these times of trouble, unrest and worry in the whole entire world.

Pray is the only thing I can "do" because some how we all feel like we must DO something. And we forget that praying IS doing something.

Prayer gets a bad wrap at times. We are mocked when we earnestly tell someone in the grocery line, "We'll pray for them."  I don't know about you, but I don't ever tell someone that lightly. If someone is having a bad day or has told me about something bad happening in their life, I only tell them I am going to pray for them if I really mean it.  I don't appreciate when comedians on television make fun of me for saying I will pray for you.  Because, I WILL pray.

Praying is an action, the word is a verb so to pray is doing something, performing an action. It is not a word that sits there and looks pretty.  Like any action hero, PRAY is supposed to take off and fly.  It requires concentration and intent.  No superhero goes off flying around wondering what he's going to do next. He has  plan and puts it into action.

It states in the Catholic Catechism (2740)  Jesus is our model for prayer.  The prayer of Jesus makes Christian prayer an efficacious petition.  He is its model, he prays in us and with us. Since the heart of the Son seeks only what pleases the Father, how could the prayer of the children of adoption be centered on the gifts rather than the Giver?   Efficacious petition means it is successful in producing a desired result.

So Jesus has taught us how to pray effectively by modeling it himself.  He even told us how to pray by teaching us the Our Father.

But for us to understand prayer correctly means it's not all about memorizing and saying by rote.  The Our Father and the Rosary are not made up of magic words.  The words are meant to remind us to think upon God.   The whole rosary is prayed to make us stop what we are worried about, thinking about and think about how Jesus prayed in his lifetime. The mysteries are set up for us to see and walk with Jesus in his life and journey to the Resurrection.  Prayer is meant to help us 'see' God in his way. It is not about us getting our answer or what we want. It is all about forming our will to wait, to be patient, and most of all to TRUST in God.

Ah….trust.  Another action word, another verb that we have to act with!  Trust is also not a static word or sitting still.  It is a super hero word of action again like prayer.  Prayer and Trust are like flying and diving to a super hero!  They are words that get us ready to live life, to fight evil and love God.

So when you say you are going to pray, even if you are kneeling at your bedside, sitting in your favorite rocker or sitting in the pew at church, you need to remember you are not settling down to pray.  You are setting up for action!  You are doing something no one else can do because we all pray in a different way each person's prayer is important for God to hear.    Think of how we could change the world into beautiful peace if each of us would treat the word PRAY as an action!  We could literally save the world like any super hero.

Smile: The Super Hero!


Friday, June 12, 2020

Be Not Afraid!

"He left and went to Zarephath.

As he arrived at the entrance of the city,
a widow was gathering sticks there; he called out to her,
“Please bring me a small cupful of water to drink.”
She left to get it, and he called out after her,
“Please bring along a bit of bread.”
She answered, “As the LORD, your God, lives, 
I have nothing baked;
there is only a handful of flour in my jar
and a little oil in my jug.
Just now I was collecting a couple of sticks,
to go in and prepare something for myself and my son;
when we have eaten it, we shall die.”
Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid. 
Go and do as you propose.
But first make me a little cake and bring it to me.
Then you can prepare something for yourself and your son.
For the LORD, the God of Israel, says,
‘The jar of flour shall not go empty,
nor the jug of oil run dry,
until the day when the LORD sends rain upon the earth.’”
She left and did as Elijah had said.
She was able to eat for a year, and Elijah and her son as well;
the jar of flour did not go empty,
nor the jug of oil run dry,
as the LORD had foretold through Elijah."     1 Kings 17:7-16

Most people would say it was ironic that the day I volunteer to lector at Mass during the week, was the day I had this reading.

I say it was the Holy Spirit reminding me to be not afraid.  The Holy Spirit knew I was getting tired; tired of the news, tired of people hating each other, tired of the fighting and warring with words and fists. I was worrying about how this was all going to resolve in our world, I was worried about my children and grandchildren growing up in a world of hate and strife.  I went to Mass, worried with my mind on these things when I stood up to proclaim God's word.  And right in front of me I was challenged to not worry any more. 

 I knew that I could not proclaim this very phrase, "Do not be afraid," by Elijah if I was still being afraid.  How many times in our history have we read the words spoken by God to not be afraid?  It is such an important command that even St. John Paul II made it his motto when he was elected Pope!  Be not afraid challenges us in more ways than all the unrest and anger in our world challenges us.  It is very hard to not be afraid!  Yet, God commands it, he doesn't just whisper it.  When it is used in the Bible and in faith teachings it is always a command! "Be Not Afraid! or "Do Not Be Afraid!"

Shouldn't we listen?  Shouldn't we believe God more than all the voices of the world telling us to be scared? Shouldn't we believe God more than the experts,  the committees, the people of power that tell us be afraid, be very afraid?  Yes! We must believe God!  We must go out into the world and NOT BE AFRAID!

 The early Christians were not afraid to live as Jesus taught them!  Yes, sometimes they were killed for not being afraid, but even when dying they knew God would save their souls!  We must be less afraid of losing our physical bodies than our eternal souls.  Be not afraid means going out into the world and telling everyone that God loves them! Good or bad, God loves each and every one of us.  As Christians we are told to boldly proclaim God's love and to NOT BE AFRAID, to shout it out!  That is the example of the early Christians that we need to emulate in these times of fear, pandemic, unrest, hatred and scorn.

We are being called to not be afraid to love one another.