Day 332: Prayer Converts Our Heart (2581-2589)

• It’s Day 332!!

• ELIJAH, THE PROPHETS AND CONVERSION OF HEART

• God wants our heart

• We give Him our hearts in worship and also in prayer in that one-to-one encounter with God

• THE PSALMS, THE PRAYER OF THE ASSEMBLY

• The Psalms can help us in our prayer and can be our own prayers in many ways

• Let’s pray!!

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, you are good, and your deeds are good. You are to be glorified in every moment, in every stage, in every state in life. We give you praise. And we ask that you please teach us how to pray because we do not know how to pray as we ought. Help us to pray like the prophets. Help us to give our full heart to you. Help us to live as we pray and to pray as we live. Help us to allow your Word to speak to us and to guide our prayer through the Psalms. Lord God, in this moment, we ask that you receive this time, receive this time of listening to the teaching of your Church. Receive it as an act of prayer. Receive it as an act of worship. Receive it as a sacrifice of thanksgiving and of praise for your glory and for the salvation of your people. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”

• So there we have it!!

• Paragraph 2581 says, “For the People of God, the Temple was to be the place of their education in prayer: pilgrimages, feasts and sacrifices, the evening offering, the incense, and the bread of the Presence (‘shewbread’)-all these signs of the holiness and glory of God Most High and Most Near were appeals to and ways of prayer. But ritualism often encouraged an excessively external worship. The people needed education in faith and conversion of heart; this was the mission of the prophets, both before and after the Exile.”

• The Temple was the only place you could offer sacrifice at a certain point in the Covenant and it was the place where they learned how to pray

• As Catholics, we have the Mass

• We have the altar of sacrifice

• We have incense

• We have the actual, true, substantial, real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, which is the fulfillment of the bread of the presence

• We also have prayers

• For us in the New Covenant, the Church that we go to daily or on Sundays is where we learn how to pray

• How many times have you gone to Mass but felt like you were just going through the motions?

• The Catechism knows that happens

• We think if we can keep God “over there” then we don’t have to bring Him inside our hearts

• The call for every single one of us is not only to worship God externally at Mass but also from our heart

• It is meant to come from our heart

• It is meant to change our heart

• There are two ways of looking at belief and behavior

• METANOIA is conversion of thought, or thinking with a new mind

• We all need that

• St. Paul encourages and commands us to do that

• Christ calls us to repentance, that METANOIA, that change of how we think

• How we think changes how we act a lot of times

• Now that I know that God is good, just, and merciful, I have to strive to be the same on a basic level

• Good

• Just

• Merciful

• God calls His people to worship and prayer

• If it is external at first, God is OK with that

• Why?

• Because belief can also follow behavior that we recognize

• Let’s listen to Fr. Mike talk about scientific studies about behavior or something…

• God invites us into prayer and worship

• Whether we are feeling it or not, to go and allow these motions to do what they are supposed to do not only give God glory, they can pierce the heart and go to the depths

• The mistake many people make is they feel that going through the motions won’t help them feel anything

• So they stop the motions

• BUT…

• That makes no sense

• If these motions are actually powerful, efficacious, and mean something, then we should do it whether we feel it or not

• Can I get an Amen?

• Let’s listen to Fr. Mike talk about Flinstone Vitamins and Popeye…

• Over the course of time, these motions actually do change us

• This is true when it comes to prayer

• I might not feel it at this moment

• But I realize that over time, something is changing even if I am only going through the motions

• Going through the motions of showing up to Mass and worshiping and entering into prayer

• That is meant to touch our hearts

• Elijah is calling people back to life

• He is calling people to conform their hearts to their outward selves

• Paragraph 2583 is very long so please go and read this one yourself 😃

• Here is a synopsis: Elijah and the widow of Zarephath

• The sacrifice on Mount Carmel with the prophets of Baal vs God

• Elijah hides in the cleft of the rock and God passes by in this still, small voice

• Paragraph 2583 says, “...But only on the mountain of the Transfiguration will Moses and Elijah behold the unveiled face of him whom they sought…”

• Paragraph 2584 says, “In their ‘one to one’ encounters with God, the prophets draw light and strength for their mission. Their prayer is not flight from this unfaithful world, but rather attentiveness to The Word of God. At times their prayer is an argument or a complaint, but it is always an intercession that awaits and prepares for the intervention of the Savior God, the Lord of history.”

• We are called to the same thing

• We are baptized as priest, prophet, and king

• In order to live out our mission, we have to have these one-to-one encounters with God

• We have to have prayer

• Prayer is not running away from the world 

• Prayer is not running away from one’s responsibilities

• Prayer is attentiveness to God’s Word so as to receive direction from the Lord

• To receive strength and support from the Lord

• To receive insight and wisdom from the Lord

• To have closeness and intimacy with the Lord

• Our prayer has to be honest

• The prophets knew they could trust God

• So their prayer was honest

• Even if they are complaining or arguing with God, that is because they believe that He is near and that He hears their prayers

• THAT IS SO IMPORTANT FOR ALL OF US IN OUR PRAYER!!

• The Psalms have become the prayer of the Church

• As often as we pray the Psalms, we are praying in God’s very Word

• Whenever you hear the Psalms sung at Mass, or pray the Psalms, or pray the Liturgy of the Hours, it is important because when we are praying, we are uniting our hearts to the heart of God expressed in the Psalms

• Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!

• Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!

• I cannot WAIT…