29th Sunday of the year C
Facebook, Chat rooms, Skype, Email, text messaging, there are so many ways in our modern world where we can communicate with others we have never been more in touch with each other and yet in a recent report they say that more people are lonelier than ever. Maybe, and this is just a guess, that there is something missing. Maybe we have missed real communication there is nothing like going and speaking to someone face to face. To have real authentic communication takes time often persistence.
In the Gospel today Jesus tells us to pray continually and never lose heart. We don’t have these modern ways of communication with God we have to in a sense we have to take time out and do it. We can’t text God what we want and he can’t text us a simple answer. So prayer takes time and we need to communicate with God by being in relationship with him by praying continually.
But how does this work? Are we to be constantly in the Church praying? No I don’t think that we should be constantly praying in the Church, but we do need to be people of prayer.
How do we do this in a busy world and a busy day? I am going to suggest a few ways that we might be able to do it. The first thing that we might be able to do is to spend a moment in silence turning off the radio for a few moments and giving that time to God. Maybe it can be over a cup of tea, just simply asking the Lord to be with you in the encounters of the day. If we are too busy to do that maybe there can be an opportunity to pray while doing the washing up or making the bed or getting the breakfast ready. God is everywhere so his presence is in the most menial tasks of the day.
The other thing that we notice is that prayer at the end of the day is important quietly spending time with the Lord: Thanking him for the things that have happened during the day, and asking his forgiveness for the things where we have fallen short. By doing this then, we can see that the whole day becomes a prayer everything should be given up to God, every meeting , every encounter, every moment can be a prayer a God given moment.
There is a danger! Let me explain. One of the things that happen is that because we see everything as a prayer we make excuses for private prayer saying that we don’t need to do it. I have seen this happen myself with priest friends of mine who then become glorified social workers. There backbone of private prayer has eroded by being too busy. Imagine if you had a best friend and you never spent time with them because you were “Too Busy” there may be a friendship there but would not be as fruitful as it could be. This is the same with our relationship with Christ. Making time to spend in private conversation with him is vital.
So let us practice this week those little moments of prayer and private conversation with Jesus so that we can grow in relationship with him the one who loves us.
Comments