BE YOURSELF BEFORE GOD

 

BE YOURSELF BEFORE GOD 

I am glad that I am not a judge. I would not enjoy reading today’s parable  about the unjust judge. In case a judge reads this reflection, please don’t get  angry with Jesus. Listening to Jesus’ parables, we all get a slap in the face once  in a while. Like when I read the parable of the Good Samaritan where a hated  Gentile is portrayed as better than the priest. 

Jesus exhorts all of us today “to pray at all times without losing heart.” We  know well how difficult it is to persevere in prayer. This can have several reasons.  We might be very busy and think that we waste too much precious time when  we pray. Or we have experienced that God did not answer our prayer. Or our  prayer has lost spontaneity. Maybe our prayer is too often just a repetition of  formula prayers and not a real encounter with God. 

Look at the widow. Her prayer was insistent, almost violent. Did you ever  become violent before God? This parable could help us to free ourselves from  a wrong notion about prayer. Prayer is not always peaceful and calm. The  psalms in the Bible provide many examples of tortured prayers. Some accuse  God of not listening, of being far away, of not caring. There are psalms which  are outbursts of people nearly breaking down in despair, demanding that God  punish their enemy. These are real prayers, and I am glad they are in the Bible. 

Before God, we are not supposed to make nice speeches, to cover up our  inner emotions, to use sweet words we don’t actually mean. Prayer must not  always be lofty. The widow had a problem and she submitted it to the only  one who could solve it—the judge. And when she addressed him, she did not  beat around the bush. So, tell God what you feel, tell Him when you are angry  with Him, tell Him about what your enemy has done to you. God is a great  shock absorber. He knows us because He made us. And He understands. It is  always better to tell all this to God than to someone else. If we let steam out in  the presence of God, He can and will give us inner peace. All the angry psalms  in the Bible end with a feeling of inner peace and new hope. And then we can  pray nice words that come from the heart. Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD

 

 

REFLECTION QUESTION 

Do you easily give up when your prayers are not immediately answered? 

 

Lord, send Your Holy Spirit to teach me how to pray and never give up. Amen.

 

 

Today, I pray for: _________________________________________________________