Ok! So its not too difficult to pray is it???

-

The central theme of today’s readings is that of prayer. For me prayer is one of the most important things that I do during the day. It is as important as brushing my teeth and having that first cup of tea to kick start my day.
In the psalm we hear that it is a hymn of praise and of prayer. The psalmist soul is thirsting for the Lord. Just like the morning gasp for a cup of tea or coffee so the psalmist describes his soul thirsting for the Lord. We know that we cannot survive without water and so we cannot survive without the lord. He comes to the Lord realising the need for God and to be in relationship with him.  We come to the Lord gasping for him knowing that “his love is better than life.” But the prayer comes not just through the lips but also through gesture, the hands are raised up to the Lord.
In the Gospel we see that Jesus is “praying alone in the presence of his disciples.” Jesus is teaching his disciples how to pray. Through this prayer he puts the question to them about who do people say I am? This maybe at first sight a very easy question to answer and we may all have a different response. This, I feel, is a good thing. The question stays the same but, maybe the answer is different as we get older and have a deeper experience of the person of Jesus. In fact one may argue that if it has not changed and developed then maybe something has gone wrong or we have not developed our relationship with him.

The one way they we develop any relationship is through communication. And so we need to have an effective communication with the person of Jesus. This communication as we have explored is prayer. This is the only way that we can really answer the question that Jesus asks us in the Gospel.

If you are anything like me, you may find prayer quite difficult. It should be like a habit like brushing our teeth.  But, if you are like me, you sit down to do it and there is so many distractions that it does not feel that there is much prayer happening. I remember that I have had been quite worried about this for some time. Over this time I realized that the fact of being there was the most important thing. It’s not that every time we pray that there is going to be some deep divine revelation. This is common mistake that people make that if something does not happen there and then then it’s a waste of time. On the contrary that is exactly what we should be doing with the Lord wasting time with him. Like we would waste time with our friends and family so we should waste time with him. Being there is the most important thing and making it a habit.

And so make time get to answer that question who do you say I am? Let us endeavour to answer that question so that we can say that I am each day through prayer get to know the person of Jesus.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Year of Service

-
Image
  This last weekend I was able to look back with friends at the wonderful year I had with the Vincentian Volunteers. Looking back I can see that there are many elements to this year that have remained always with me. These I can now see and after reflection have shaped my life since this most formative year. From this year I went on to train for the priesthood and became a priest. After 16 years I left ministry and now try my best to live my Christian values and life in the world. In a recent upgrade to my CV I realised that my whole adult life has been in some sort of service to others and usually to the most vulnerable and those on the fringes of society. From working in Top Shop to ministry to the Hospital to the work I now do in education. This all stems from this year I had with the community and putting Love in action. Yes I have made mistakes on the way and my human frailty has been evident but this life was never going to easy and straight forward.  When I look back on that yea
Read more

Easter

-
Image
  Over the last few years I have had major issues with the Catholic Church. I think that my issue is the authority of the Church and how many clergy, not all, use and abuse their power and class the laity as stupid idiots. I can say this as for 16 years I was a priest and caught up in the system. When you're in the middle of it you can't aways see what is going on around you. I could not see what the Church as a structure was doing to peoples lives. Until I was out I realised that the Church and Im talking about the Catholic Church here is full up of repressed men who are scared of change scared of themselves and scared of the laity. Those who speak out especially clergy who want significant change are laughed at by others and classed as trouble makers. This includes Pope Francis himself who wants change but sometimes can't get it because of what he has inherited. It is an issue that has gone on your centuries.  This does not allow for a healthy functioning Church. There ne
Read more

What have we learnt? Covid and the last year.

-
Image
Over the last year since the start of the Covid pandemic there has been much in the press about the affects on society. We have seen that there are many people who are anxious, feel alone and worried about the future. So I looked on the Internet for the Christian response to the Pandemic. I was not surprised to see that there were many articles to suggest that the Christian Church as a whole has failed in this time.  In the first Lockdown the Churches were asked to close and there was no public worship. As the infection rate went down the Churches could open for private prayer. In the recent lockdown many places of worship have remained open although the infection rate being a lot higher. I have maybe been a thorn in peoples sides by asking why. I even wrote to the Cardinal  to ask him why. I argued that they should be left shut because of the demographic that tend to go. I got a standard reply back. When I looked in newsletters I read many times about how to give your collection and t
Read more