How do I pray?
July 28 2019: Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - C
A Moroccan proverb says, “If the prayers of dogs were
answered, bones would rain from the sky.”
Every time that we call upon him, the Lord answers. He does
not delay; and if ever the answer seems delayed, it is because the Lord is
preparing the better than what we asked for. Analogy is not always logic, but
we could say that prayer is like a bargain we do with the Lord. Through
praying, we enter in agreement, in business with him. It is however, not so
much a business of parity such as giving-giving or giving-receiving, as to say to
the Lord, ‘I’ll scratch your back, you scratch mine’, a kind of reciprocity. In
the contract of prayer, he who gives is always the Lord and we, the
interlocutors are the receivers.
Prayer is also an exercise of mediation. One does not pray
always asking for himself. It is sometimes, about asking for others’ sake. The best
prayer, actually, is that which is not self-centered or selfish. It is about making
ours, the needs of others. In that sense, the Lord’s prayer appears as the best
of all prayers.
As we can feel it, today’s liturgy is about prayer. We read
in the first reading about the prayer of Abraham for the cities of Sodom and
Gomorrah. We read on how insistently, and at some extend, even with stubbornness,
Abraham made it his obligation to plead for those cities and their inhabitants.
From that prayer, we learn that to pray is not something of an instant. It is
not that one’s just asks once, and it is enough. It is about insisting, pleading,
bargaining. Prayer, actually is a ‘Holy Stubbornness’.
The Holy Scriptures teach us that we should pray always,
pray without ceasing, pray at all time, putting every situation and all that we
encounter before God and into his hands. It is also about giving him thanks
always for all the events, situations and happenings in our life.
With Abraham, we discover that the best prayer is not a sporadic
act. It calls for insistence, patience, persistence and boldness. Our prayer
opens us to God’s horizon and brings us closer to him. The fourth weekday
preface states it rightly, God has no need of our praise, yet our desire to
thank him is itself his gift. Our prayer of thanksgiving adds nothing to his
greatness but makes us grow in his grace.
In the Gospel, the Lord Jesus gives us a beautiful catechism
on prayer. We read that “Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had
finished, one of his disciples” asked him to teach them how to pray. So, he taught them the Lord’s prayer. Then, just after that, he opened the real
teaching on prayer. This is worth any theological treatise. It
is on: what is prayer? When should we pray? how and why should we pray?
In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC. 2558, we read
that “prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven,
it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.” Then the
CCC. will add that prayer is a gift from God, an act of covenant, a communion. Mankind
is a creature in search of the divine. It is only through prayer that we reach
our end, finding God.
God, however, one does never find him alone, neither only for
oneself and once for all. It is a matter of continual exercise, openness to
others and communion with them. Just as Abraham did, his holy stubbornness. So,
Jesus, in his teaching on prayer will emphasize this aspect of insistence. We receive
answer to our prayers when we know how to insist, persist and be consistent. God,
surely knows our needs before we come to present them to him. He also knows the
best what is good for us. Therefore, he will always answer to our prayers. Nevertheless,
we need to make ourselves close to him, and not be selfish in what we ask,
neither conditioned by circumstances, that is to pray only when we are in need.
Many, unfortunately, are those who know the way to the
church only when there is need. Some come to church only when they can no
longer handle life by themselves. Let us say it, God is not a fireguard; someone
we know only when there is fire. Prayer being a communion with him, we need to
keep it as a continual communication.
We read from the Gospels that Christ our Lord was always in
relation with his Father through prayer. He never lacked any occasion to relate
to him. It is even because they saw him doing so, that one of his disciples
asked him to teach them how to do the same. As his followers, Paul tells us in
the second reading, we should also imitate that relation Jesus had with God. We need
to pray like him.
It is sad to see the meaning many Christians give today to
prayer. Instead of being a means of connection to the divine, prayer has turn
into making God an instrument, an answering machine. I have a financial
problem, God. You have no husband or wife, God. Married for years, they have no
child, God. Someone was not doing well his work, he has been filled for
corruption, God. One is dying of sickness or hunger, God. Has God become a
problem solver? Is it that the real prayer, to know God and approach him only
when we are in need?
Another sad observation about prayer is that for many, prayer
seems to be the consecration of selfishness. Their prayer seems not to connect
them to others. Some people only pray for themselves and perhaps for their
loved ones. In the first reading, we heard about Abraham's mediation and
intercession for Sodom and Gomorrah. It was not for himself. He had nothing to
do with these two cities. Nor was it because his nephew Lot lived in Sodom.
Prayer is mediation and intercession. We are called to become instruments of
God's grace in the lives of others. The Lord teaches us this fact well in the
"Our Father". It is not a matter of praying only for oneself, but for
all. As we pray, we must feel and embrace the needs of others. This connection
with others will be more felt and strengthened if we realize that God, our Father,
who is the epicenter of our being, is also the spark of the existence of others.
God not being selfish does not give a favorable answer to self-worship in
prayer. If your prayer is "me, me, me", God will not hear it.
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