INVESTING IN PRAYER
More
and more today, we are exposed to the DIY (Do-It-Yourself) culture.
This is a good thing because it allows us to move beyond our perceived
abilities, and to strive to come up with something unique through our
own efforts. In a sense, we can say that we are involved in what we do
because we are part of it not only in the planning but more so in the
execution.
Take for example the painting of a house. Today, we are more inclined
to do the painting or repainting job ourselves. Not only is it
practical, it is also fun to do! But, as in anything, one needs to know
what to prepare beforehand. Before doing any painting job, we need to
make sure we have scraped, filed, sanded and cleaned the wall. After that, and probably the most important, we have to apply a primer. We cannot skip these prerequisites. If we do, we will have a finished product that is either seriously flawed or may not work at all. Imagine your wall paint peeling off in front of your eyes, or seeing bubbles or rough surfaces after you have finished the job.
We can create something we can be truly proud of if we take the time to
prepare. The same applies to what we read in the Gospel today. At the
end of the passage, a disciple of Jesus asks, “Why could we not drive
the spirit out?” And Jesus mentioned a prerequisite: prayer. We cannot
expect to heal, do miracles, drive out bad spirits, or anything, if we
are not men of prayer like Jesus.
We need to invest time for prayer if we want to see fruits in our
ministry. While it is easy to put together projects for the poor, for
the underprivileged and the needy, as in painting a house, we need to
have these integrated with prayer, a necessary prerequisite, and to
ultimately lead them to prayer, as an act of thanksgiving and praise to
God. Fr. Erick Y. Santos, OFS
REFLECTION QUESTION: Does the power of prayer lead you to success?
Lord Jesus, make me a person of prayer.
No comments:
Post a Comment