17-Jul-2013 Dear Friend, As believers we are all aware of the need of prayer as well as the importance of prayer in our lives. Yet many find it difficult to pray and there are moments in our lives when we wonder whether prayer makes any difference at all. It is interesting to note that even secular science is admitting the growing importance of prayer and its impact on human life. How then should we pray? The only way we learn to pray is by praying! Have a prayer-filled weekend bringing our life into prayer and prayer into our life! Fr. Jude Sunday Reflections: 17th Sunday of the Year: "Pray as you are and pray as you believe!" 28-Jul-2013 Readings: Genesis 18: 20-32 Colossians 2: 12-14 Luke 11: 1-13 The first reading introduces us to Abraham as he intercedes with God for the city of Sodom and Gomorrah. What strikes us immediately is the tone of the conversation between Abraham and God. It certainly implies a relationship. Firstly, we see Abraham pleading not for himself but for the needs of others. Secondly, what comes across through the reading is the belief that good people matter and have a tremendous influence on others. Thirdly, we see that Abraham perseveres in his pleading with the Lord. The point of the passage is not that prayer changes God but rather that prayer gives us a share in His power and definitely, that prayer changes us so that we can accept whatever is God's will for us. Prayer -Sharing in God's Power Jim Johnson was given the job of saving a failing hotel. Other managers had tried, but unsuccessfully. The hotel was in a now-or-never situation. Jim decided to try something different. Each night he drove to the top of a hill overlooking the hotel and the city. He parked his car and sat there for the next 20 minutes praying. Jim prayed for the hotel guests, relaxing behind the lighted windows. He prayed for the hotel employees and for their families. He prayed for the people, who did business with the hotel. Finally, he prayed for the city and its people. Night after night, Jim drove to the top of the hill, parked his car and prayed the same prayer. Soon the situation at the hotel started to improve. A new confidence radiated from its employees. A new warmth welcomed and greeted each new guest. A new spirit permeated its operation. The hotel experienced a remarkable rebirth thanks to the nightly prayer of Jim Johnson. Norman Vincent Peale The Gospel of today has three sections, all dealing with prayer. While the first part deals with the prayer 'The Our Father', the other two sections illustrate the attitude and dispositions for prayer. The model prayer of Jesus starts with calling God 'Father', which was something unique that Jesus could say and which we have the privilege to say in and through Jesus. Our prayer becomes like Jesus' when we can call God our 'Abba', 'Papa', 'Dada', 'Pai', the term of endearment that we use at home. Next, the model prayer reminds us of what should be our priorities. Too often our prayer is individualistic, focused on 'I', 'myself'. In stead the 'Our Father' starts with focusing on God: "Holy be Your Name, Your Kingdom come!" The perfect form of prayer is praise, and working for the His Kingdom every day. In the second part Jesus turns to asking for human needs and here too the sequence is noteworthy. It starts with, "Give us this day our daily bread." We ask not only for ourselves but for others as well. For the Israelites, the bread given by Yahweh was never eaten alone but always in community, food was for sharing. We ask for 'daily bread' not all the quota for a life time! Our asking every day keeps us humble enough to realize we cannot manage by ourselves and we need God every day of our life. The daily bread implied not only the physical food we need but also the spiritual nourishment provided by prayer. The last part of the 'Our Father' reminds us that just as we need physical and spiritual nourishment we also need God's mercy and forgiveness, because, in spite of our best intentions and promises, we falter often in life. 'Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us', reminds us that we show our own acceptance of God's forgiveness when we forgive others. The final petition, 'Do not bring us to the test but deliver us from all evil', does not imply that God tempts us rather we are asking not to be tested beyond our limit. Saints are not those who are never tempted but who in spite of temptations found their strength in God. I was waiting for you to call on me! The boy walked along the ocean shore trying not to stray. He looked up to his father saying, "Dad, I want to play." His father looked upon him, with love showing in his eyes. "Do what you want to, my son but do not leave my side." "I would never leave you Daddy, I love you way too much." But the boy took a step away, out of his father's range of touch. He walked through the surf, the waves tickling one toe. "If I take one more step in" he thought, "Father will never know." His father called out to him, "Son, remain close to me!" The boy thought "At the moment I don't need you!" His father felt sadness, but he held his tongue. The boy stepped out a little further . . . the water covering his waist. His father spoke with urgency "My son, come back to me," he said, "The day is almost done!" "Not yet, Dad," the boy yelled, "I'm having fun!" The boy did not have his father's insight so he could not yet tell, the tide was coming in so fast there would be no time to yell. "Father!" he tried to scream, as the water covered his head. "I need you now, Daddy!" was what the boy had said. And in a single instant his father was by his side. "I thought you left me, Daddy, I thought you went to hide." The father looked upon his son . . . a tear streaming down his cheek. The boy looked upon his father and cried the sobs of the meek. "I would never leave you son, for I love you just the same." "I was only waiting for you to call upon my name." Author Unknown. Bargaining with God Some years ago a young man in his early thirties found himself bargaining with God. He was a fairly well to do banker whose values were admittedly centered in the goods of this world. He had two children and a wife and he felt that life was good and that all things were going as he had always hoped they might. Then everything changed in a split second when a large truck ran a stop sign and hit his car broadside. He was grateful that he had been alone in his car, but on the way to the hospital in a speeding ambulance he knew his life was ebbing away. "I made a bargain with God," he said, "I promised that if I was allowed to survive this accident so that I could be there to raise my son and daughter, I would faithfully serve God in the church for the rest of my life." To this point, he had not been a churchgoing person. I met Douglas years after the accident and it was during a church retreat that he told me about his bargain with God. "I kept my end of the bargain just as God did," he said. And it was clear that Douglas had made a complete turn around in his life and values after his promise to God. -Was God swayed by Douglas' offer to turn his life around? Did God change the outcome of this young man's life because of his bargaining? Though we may not understand fully how our pleading with God in difficult times works in detail, we can always trust that the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting. Prince Rainy Rivers in 'Text this Week' What is Prayer?! -Secret of Powerful Praying Warren Wiersbe tells of the time when he was helping to paint the outside of his neighbors' home. His neighbors had a small black dog that had a ritual of going to the back door of the house to bark and bark until someone finally got the message and let him out. One day, Wiersbe was painting the outside of the house when no one was home. The neighbor's little dog, who was inside the house, took up his station at the back door and barked and barked all day long. The sad thing, Wiersbe said, was that it never dawned in his little brain that all his barking was totally useless -no one was home to hear!! Perhaps many of you feel like that dog. You have prayed and prayed for something and there seems to be no answer-there seems to be no one at home! And maybe you have this nagging wonder why your prayers are going unanswered! -Prayer is one of the most misunderstood and misused practices of our faith. And like the black dog mentioned earlier, until we understand the nature of prayer and how God answers prayer, all of our barking and praying for an answer will leave us frustrated. The truth is, our wondering about unanswered prayer is often about a misunderstanding of what prayer is. There is an old story of a monk who was bothered by mice playing around him when he prayed. To stop it, he got a cat and kept it in his prayer room so the mice would be scared away. But he never explained to his disciples why he had the cat. So, one day, the monk walked down the corridors of the monastery and noticed that each of his disciples had a cat in their prayer room. After seeing the monk with a cat, they thought having a cat was the secret to powerful praying. I believe this is a parable for many Christians today. Many believe they have to do something special in order for God to hear them and have their prayers answered. So, you will often see folks running here and there to learn the latest prayer gimmick from self-proclaimed spiritual gurus. Charles Reeb in 'Text This Week' Pray as you are A little shepherd boy was watching his sheep one Sunday morning, when he heard the Church bells ringing and people walking along the lane next to the pasture going to Church. He began to think that he too would like to communicate with God. "But what can I say?" he thought. He had never learned a prayer. So, on bended knees, he began to recite the alphabets-a, b, c, d, and so on to z, repeating his 'prayer' several times. A man passing by heard the boy's voice, and stopping to look through the bushes, saw the child kneeling with folded hands and closed eyes saying, a, b, c, ...k, l, m, " He interrupted the boy, asking, "What are you doing, my little friend?" The boy replied, "I was praying sir," Surprised, the man said, "But why are you reciting the alphabet?" The boy explained, "I don't know any prayer sir. But I want God to take care of me and help me to take care of my sheep. So I thought if I said, all I knew, He could put the letters together and spell all that I wanted to say and should say." The man smiled and said, "Bless your heart. You are right, God will!" then he went to church knowing he had already heard the finest sermon he could possibly hear that day. John Rose in 'John's Sunday Homilies' God always wants to communicate with us. May we in our own way commune with him. Fr. Jude Botelho [email protected] PS. The stories, incidents and anecdotes used in the reflections have been collected over the years from books as well as from sources over the net and from e-mails received. Every effort is made to acknowledge authors whenever possible. If you send in stories or illustrations I would be grateful if you could quote the source as well so that they can be acknowledged if used in these reflections. These reflections are also available on my Web site www.NetForLife.net Thank you.
