|
LORD, TEACH US HOW TO PRAY
Yes, Jesus sets the perfect example for us. He who knows perfect prayer taught us that, above all else, we need to give thanks before we consider asking for favours. We have to come to grips with the truth that Jesus is the Gift of gifts from God the Father – the most desirable Treasure anyone could imagine! It would be wise to remember, as one prays, that the Giver should remain more precious to the heart than the various gifts one may receive from Him. As we read in Chapter Six of Matthew's Gospel: “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
According to the Catholic Catechism, prayer is “the raising of one's mind and heart to God.” For me, prayer is the opening of my heart so that the Divine Doctor can heal me. Sometimes, I look humbly and simply towards Heaven to ask for help; in times of trial, prayer helps me to find the strength in God's love. I have learned to give thanks - in times of sorrow as well as in times of joy – for everything that happens has a purpose, whether we understand it at the time or not!
Prayer, our personal talk with God, should never originate from the height of pride but rather from the depths of a humble, contrite heart, for we have been promised that the one who humbles him/herself will be exalted. Therefore, humility becomes the cornerstone of our prayer life. We have to become beggars before the Almighty One, asking for His light, so that we can acknowledge that we do not really know how to pray as we ought.
God desires to bring us to eternal life and prayer is an important part of our journey towards that goal. It is like the “living water” flowing through us, gently floating us to the Father and life eternal. More than a thousand times, Holy Scripture mentions that the source of prayer is the heart. Recall Matthew's quote about the treasure and the heart. If we are far from God, our hearts cannot utter prayers and our words will not have the same impact before Him. The heart is not just an organ pumping blood – it is a source of life, a temple of God, a place for our conscience, a dwelling place of truth and love. Thus, prayer from the heart becomes a covenant, a living relationship between us and our Triune God. Prayer from the heart puts us in the sandals of Christ insofar as it becomes an instrument, a communion between the Body of Christ (our family, Church community, friends, neighbours, strangers) and Jesus, who is Mercy Incarnate.
The May 1997 issue of the “Focus on the Family” magazine included an article entitled “Confession of a Prayer Wimp”. I thought it would be appropriate to include it in this reflection, so I asked the author for permission to reprint her story. I pray that the Lord will move you through her words. So, sit back and enjoy the following article by Mary Pierce of Wisconsin:
I heard it again today. A radio host introduced his female guest as a real prayer warrior. I cringed with guilt, imagining a Saint who wore out countless pairs of pantyhose at the knee, whose eloquent prayers altered the course of history and inspired prodigals homeward. I felt puny and pathetic, for you see, I'm not a prayer warrior at all. I'm a prayer wimp. Problems like the water heater exploding don't send a prayer warrior, in ratty bathrobe, running from the house screaming: “Help, Lord! Save us!” No, a warrior never loses her cool. Instead she prays: “Thank You, Lord, for this opportunity to wash the basement floor”, as she works her mop. “Oh, and the ceiling too!” I know that if car trouble strands a
warrior in the middle of nowhere with an ice-cream cake melting in her back
seat, she doesn't pound her forehead on the steering wheel and shout to the
corn fields: “Why ME, Lord?” The tow truck showed up for me, too, but after I unsuccessfully tried to dam the flow of melting ice cream with one used tissue and an old receipt I's dislodged from the gum at the bottom of my purse. My rescuer also refusing my cheque, demanding cash up front instead. I offered the remaining cake as partial payment, but “Happy Birth” didn't appeal to him either. On her knees before dawn, a warrior has the whole world prayed for before her very first cup of coffee. When the alarm shatters my sleep, my mind muddles through a thick fog. Did I survive the night? Guess so ... Heaven would surely be cleaner than this bedroom! When a warrior's friend calls her with a concern, the warrior says gently, “Let's pray about that, shall we?” Pity the friends of wimps like me. A phone call becomes a mutual whining session about the tough stuff of life with the promise to pray (not out loud on the phone, of course) for each other later. “Make time for appointments with God”, the experts advise. O sure! Between the kids' stuff and my countless jobs, I'm Jonah in the whale of busyness. And those rare times that the children are at camp, or I'm sick, and I can manage those appointments, it's like spiritual teeth cleaning. All that scraping, just to remove the plaque of my life. That slick, clean feeling afterward sure doesn't last long. While a warrior's prayers are a symphony, mine are like advertising jingles: “Lord, I need a break today!” “Reach out and touch me, God.” “Lord, take me away!” A warrior's prayers are an elegant, intimate dinner for two; mine are a fast food run. “I'll take a new heart, a new mind and two orders of patience, Lord. And could I please have that to go?” Maybe I need a twelve-step program where I could stand before a mass of strangers and confess: “My name is Mary and I am a prayer wimp.” Murmurs of understanding would assure me that I am not alone. No one would throw rocks. Thinking things over, I wonder if prayer warriors ever feel like wimps. Maybe we're all just raw recruits in God's army. What if prayer isn't about what we are or do or say, but about who God is? I'd like to be less wimp and more warrior, but I have a feeling that doesn't happen overnight. Maybe a good first step would be to sit at God's feet a while and say: “Lord, teach me to pray.” I'll be quiet and listen. I think I'll give it a shot.
Closing remarks: So what do you think? Don't you want to give it a shot too? Perhaps the fast-approaching Lenten Season would be a good time to set some time aside, just for you and the Lord, to be quiet and listen, to come another step closer to becoming one of His prayer warriors.
|