WHAT IS THE ESSENCE OF PRAYER?

1^ST READING - Sirach 48:1-14

P S A L M - Psalm 97:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7

R: Rejoice in the Lord, you just!

GOSPEL - Matthew 6:7-15

There have been thousands of liters of ink spilt over debating this question. You will get virtually as many answers as the people you ask about it.

So, what is the right answer? The right answer, I believe, is that each of us has to answer this question on the basis of our individual relationships with God. Think of all the relationships you have in your life. Is any two of them exactly the same? Of course not! Why not? The answer is very simple: Every person is an individual and God meets each of us where we are at any particular time in our lives. This means that all our relationships with God are different. Yes, there are similar aspects, some of which may be universal, but ultimately there will always be something that makes your or my relationship with God, and hence our prayer, different from each other.

Today’s Gospel outlines for us some of the similarities in the form of the Lord’s Prayer. But even this is not the be-all and end-all of everything. We must realize that each of us has to strive hard to develop our prayer lives in order to discover what works best for us. Teresa of Avila says that, by far, the most important aspect of prayer is our desire to be in relationship with God that will be directly proportional to our commitment to prayer.

The most important aspect of praying is simply making ourselves available to God for Him to speak to us. We may experience nothing in prayer but that does not matter. What matters is that we are there — we are open to God’s Spirit and we trust that He is working within us to bring us to the gift of salvation. It is not possible to measure the effectiveness of prayer or how well we are doing beyond these basics. If we stick to them we will never be far from the mark, if at all distant to it.

Prayer is essential to the health of our faith. Let us resolve to prioritize it daily in our lives. Fr. Steve Tynan, MGL

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: When was the last time that you prayed? How deep is your desire for God? How committed are you to developing a daily habit of prayer?

 

Holy Spirit, inspire me to be committed to spending some time in prayer each day. Help me to make this a priority in my life.

St. Aloysius Gonzaga, martyr, pray for us.