Checking your daily prayer, do you praise God enough? - Daily Reflections October 3,2015

INVITATION TO PRAISE GOD

 

During a recollection, I once asked the participants to write down their prayers — from the kind of prayer they use most frequently to the one they use rarely. It did not come as a surprise to me that everyone put first “prayer of petition,” followed by “prayer of thanksgiving,” and then most had nothing else to write. Only six out of the 43 participants wrote “prayer of praise.” (And these six belonged to Charismatic communities).

       Most of us pray to ask the Lord for something. After all, we are in need of so much divine help in the daily struggles and problems that we encounter. We easily remember Jesus’ words: “Ask and you will receive.” So, there is nothing wrong with “prayers of petition.”

       But many forget to thank God when He has granted our petition. We take for granted the small signs of God’s love that we experience day after day. Do we thank Him for them? Isn’t it that we take too many things for granted, forgetting the One who sent us these small signs of His love?

       In today’s Gospel passage, we see Jesus praying. Suddenly He breaks out in a prayer of praise. His disciples had come back from their first successful mission – and Jesus praises His Father, making us aware that praise is a very important form of prayer. And it is not only Jesus who makes us aware of this. John the Baptist’s father, Zechariah, broke out into a song of praise. When Mary met her cousin, Elizabeth, she broke out into the “Magnificat,” the beautiful song of praise. When we attend the Sunday Mass, soon after it has started, we sing or recite the “Glory to God in the Highest,” a song of praise. At the end of the Preface we join the angels in their song of joy and praise, “Holy, holy, holy.”

       Our prayer life would be enriched by adding more prayers of praise to our prayers of petition and thanksgiving. After all, God deserves to always be praised for all He did, does and will do for us. Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: Checking your daily prayer, do you praise God enough?

 

Lord, I admit that I ask You for so many things; sometimes I even forget to thank You. And yet, You continue to care for me. Seeing You praising Your Father, You make me aware how important the prayer of praise is. Let me not forget this.