Do you easily give up praying when God does not seem to answer? Do you use personal words in prayer or do you read from prayer books only? - Daily Reflections October 8,2015

PERSISTENT PRAYER

 

“Lord, teach us to pray,” a disciple asked Jesus. This request triggered Jesus to teach the “Our Father,” a kind of blueprint of all prayers that would be acceptable to God.

       But then He continued to speak about prayer, as we read in today’s Gospel passage. Jesus knew that one who prays faces many obstacles, so He tried to give a lesson by using parables.

       Do you sometimes feel impatient with God? Does He seem late in answering your requests or meeting your needs? Certainly all of us have had questions concerning prayer at some point in our Christian life. Why should we continue to pray for something if we have already prayed for a long time? What about those times when we pray and are certain of an answer, and yet no answer is coming? What are we to do? While it is not wrong to recite a prayer, it is more important to pray with one’s own words. Pope Francis once said that we should pray and not “say” prayers. Saying prayer means we open a prayer book and read what is written there. Nothing wrong with that, but our prayer may become a routine. After all, the prayers in the book are not our personal words.

       We are to pray passionately and expectantly like the man who goes from house to house to ask some bread from friends. That’s a challenge. But God is eager to respond to His children who ask unashamedly, seek persistently and knock expectantly at His door with their many needs and requests. The famous Christian writer, C.S. Lewis, reminds us of the challenge we face each day when he writes, “The moment you wake up each morning, all your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists in shoving it all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other, larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in.”

       After all, God knows better what we really need. Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: Do you easily give up praying when God does not seem to answer? Do you use personal words in prayer or do you read from prayer books only?

 

Lord, I turn to You in real prayer. I open my heart and beg You to help me in my conversations with You: to praise You, beg You, thank You, and especially learn to listen to You.