Do you look at prayer simply as a tool for divine favor? Are the desires of your heart true, good and beautiful? - Daily Reflections March 1,2014

WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT   As a priest, people approach me to ask for a lot of things. Some ask for counsel, for information, for clarifications about the faith.  Sometimes I get asked questions which have nothing to do with who I am or with what I represent. I was once asked which stock is performing best in the market. I don’t even know what a stock is and how it works. I guess it’s because, as a priest, I represent what a community recognizes as an elder.        In the First Reading today, James paints a picture of a typical early Christian community. James commends the concerns of the community to the pastoral attention of an elder. An elder in a community plays the role of advisor, healer, comforter, reconciler and, above all, a prayer advocate. It is summed up in the line, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (James 5:16). There are many versions of this verse describing the character of the elder, but this is what I like best: “The fervent petition of a holy man is powerful indeed.”        I’m not sure if I fit the category of the “holy man” in James 5:16 but I’m sure his prayer request is not something that a holy man prays for and God blesses. A holy man does not and cannot blackmail God into submission. One cannot pray, “This I pray, whether you like it or not.” It doesn’t work that way. The unwritten dictum is that a holy man prays only for holy things — things that are true, good and beautiful.        One time, a guy subtly asked me to pray for the failure of his competitor’s business venture. “He pirated some of my business ideas and so I pray he doesn’t succeed,” he explained. “Malakas naman kayo kay Lord, di ba?” he added. (Your prayers are powerful with the Lord.)        In reply, I told him, “I will pray instead that God prospers the work of your hands and that the other one might be sorry for whatever wrong he has done to you.” I believe that was more compatible with the prayer of James 5:16. Fr. Joel Jason   REFLECTION QUESTIONS: Do you look at prayer simply as a tool for divine favor? Are the desires of your heart true, good and beautiful?   Purify my heart, Lord, that I may only desire that which is true, good and beautiful.