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It’s Day 329!!
PILLAR 4: HOW WE PRAY
SECTION ONE: PRAYER IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
WHAT IS PRAYER?
It is a definition that comes from experience and from the heart
It is a definition that comes from St. Thérèse of Lisieux
Paragraph 2558 says, “For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.”
Prayer is when the thirst of God meets our thirst
PRAYER AS GOD’S GIFT
Paragraph 2560 says, “‘If you knew the gift of God!’ The wonder of prayer is revealed beside the well where we come seeking water: there, Christ comes to meet every human being. It is he who first seeks us and asks us for a drink. Jesus thirsts; his asking arises from the depths of God’s desire for us. Whether we realize it or not, prayer is the encounter of God’s thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for him.”
Everytime we pray, it is always a response to God’s love
PRAYER AS COVENANT
PRAYER AS COMMUNION
Let’s pray!!
Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we thank you. You have loved us first, and we give you permission to love us. We ask you, give us hearts that can love you in return. Give us hearts that can love our neighbor as you love them. Lord God, help us to br men and women of prayer. Help us to be sons and daughters who turn to you, our Father, in every situation and every circumstance, embracing both trial and joy. Father, be with us this day and help us to be attentive to you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”
So there we have it!!
Paragraph 2558 says, “‘Great is the mystery of the faith!’ The Church professes this mystery in the Apostles’ Creed (Part One) and celebrates it in the sacramental liturgy (Part Two), so that the life of the faithful may be conformed to Christ in the Holy Spirit to the glory of God the Father (Part Three). This mystery, then, requires that the faithful believe in it, that they celebrate it, and that they live from it in a vital and personal relationship with the living and true God. This relationship is prayer…”
It’s not that we simply believe X, Y, and Z and then we are done
When we enter the Sacraments, we are not just going through the motions
In the moral life, it’s not enough to check the boxes to be a good kid instead of a bad kid
All of this has to be LIVED in a vital and personal relationship with God
It comes from and is directed towards that vital, essential, important, and personal relationship
This is not someone else’s relationship
This is YOUR relationship
Our faith is definitely a communal faith that we share in Church
AND YET…
It must also be personal
It is not private
It is not just between me and Jesus
BUT…
It has to be personal in the sense that it is between me and Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit
Living out the relationship of the living and true God is PRAYER
Paragraph 2558 says, “For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.”
Prayer is a simple look turned toward heaven and it is a cry of recognition and of love
What does this mean?
Jesus said to His disciples to not babble like the pagans who think that because of their many words they will be heard
People look at us Catholics and tell us that we just say the Hail Mary a bunch of times and repeat ourselves with chaplets etc.
So they claim we babble like the pagans
BUT…
THAT IS NOT WHAT JESUS IS TALKING ABOUT!!
Jesus is referring to pagans who believed that if they would say the right things in the right way over and over again that they would be able to get the gods’ attention
We as Catholics do not have to say many many words in order to be heard
Jesus says, “But when you pray simply say, ‘Our Father, who art in heaven…’”
When we turn our thoughts and heart towards God, we realize that He is already looking at us
We already have His attention
Right now, turn your attention and heart to God Himself
Even as you are listening to these words, God is attentive to you
You do not have to fight for His attention
We already have His attention
We turn towards Heaven and realize that Heaven is looking towards us
We turn towards the Father and realize that the Father is already looking at us
It also embraces both trial and joy because at every moment of our lives, we have the Father’s attention and the Father’s heart
Paragraph 2559 says, “‘Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God.’ But when we pray, do we speak from the height of our pride and will, or ‘out of the depths’ of a humble and contrite heart? He who humbles himself will be exalted; humility is the foundation of prayer. Only when we humbly acknowledge that ‘we do not know how to pray as we ought,’ are we ready to freely receive the gift of prayer. ‘Man is a beggar before God.’”
HUMILITY IS THE FOUNDATION OF PRAYER!!
St. Augustine said that there are three essential elements of prayer: HUMILITY, HUMILITY, and HUMILITY
Paragraph 2560 says, “‘If you knew the gift of God!’ The wonder of prayer is revealed beside the well where we come seeking water: there, Christ comes to meet every human being. It is he who first seeks us and asks us for a drink. Jesus thirsts; his asking arises from the depths of God’s desire for us. Whether we realize it or not, prayer is the encounter of God’s thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for him.”
Your Father already knows what you need
Your Father is already attentive to you
If you only knew the gift of God and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water
Paragraph 2561 says, “‘You would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’ Paradoxically our prayer of petition is a response to the plea of the living God: ‘They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water!’ Prayer is the response of faith to the free promise of salvation and also a response of love to the thirst of the only Son of God.”
This is one of the fundamental premises of Christian prayer
IT IS ALWAYS A RESPONSE!!
God is the one who moves FIRST
Every time you have ever wanted to pray, it was because God was drawing you into prayer
God thirsts for you so that we can then thirst for Him
Too often, we think that we have to fight for God’s attention
YOU DO NOT!!
God is fighting for YOUR attention
We think that we have to say the words in a prayer just the right way
NO YOU DON’T!!
PRAYER AS COVENANT
Paragraph 2562 says, “Where does prayer come from? Whether prayer is expressed in words or gestures, it is the whole man who prays. But in naming the source of prayer, Scripture speaks sometimes of the soul or the spirit, but most often of the heart (more than a thousand times). According to Scripture, it is the heart that prays. If our heart is far from God, the words of prayer are in vain.”
What does it mean if our hearts are far from God?
We can take our heart away from the Lord if we choose to live in rebellion
I might find myself in the vicinity of God, going to Church, or even approaching God in prayer
If I have not surrendered my heart to Him…
“Ok, God. Whatever I know you have called me to do, I am just going to do it. I am not going to live in rebellion. I am going to live in obedience.”
If we are living in rebellion, our heart is far from God and the words of prayer are in vain
So we need to examine our conscience
Is that me right now?
Are there places in my life where I am not just resistant, questioning, or struggling, but in actual rebellion?
“I refuse to do what you are asking me to do, God.”
If that’s the case, then my heart is far from God and the words of my prayer are in vain
Why?
Paragraph 2563 says, “The heart is the dwelling-place where I am, where I live; according to the Semitic or Biblical expression, the heart is the place ‘to which I withdraw.’ The heart is our hidden center, beyond the grasp of our reason and of others; only the Spirit of God can fathom the human heart and know it fully. The heart is the place of decision, deeper than our psychic drives. It is the place of truth, where we choose life or death. It is the place of encounter, because as image of God we live in relation: it is the place of covenant.”
Your heart is your hidden center and only God can understand it fully
That is great news
Why?
God understands the deepest secret about you
Your life
Your struggles
Your joys
Your weaknesses
Your strengths
Your gifts
Your burdens
When we talked about mortal and venial sin, how do we know whether this is a mortal sin or a venial sin?
Our heart is the place of decision and of truth
That is where we choose life or death
God is the only one who fully understands your heart and knows what you have actually chosen
God knows what you have actually decided
That is why it is so important that we do everything we can to understand our own heart
We need to understand what we are really choosing
Not to give ourselves a pass or condemn ourselves, but to get to the truth
We want to learn how to pray from the heart
Not just say our prayers
We want to learn how to live from the heart
We need to allow the Lord into our heart
He is the only one who understands it
We need to humbly approach Him and choose Him freely and fully from the depths of our heart
That is why we need God’s help
Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!
Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!
I cannot WAIT…
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