LENT 2008 BEING PEOPLE OF PRAYER Prayer does not change God, but it changes the one who prays. Søren Kierkegaard The purpose of salvation is to restore lost people to relationship with God our Father. Through the cross of Jesus, the barriers to that relationship were removed. When we begin to trust God once again and turn from our sin, He comes into our lives to begin a new relationship of love with us. God is in every true Christian (Romans 8:9,10; John 14:23; Revelation 3:20; 2 Corinthians 13:5). Our faith and love towards God will lead us to recognize His presence with us, to talk with Him, to listen to Him, to sense Him. This is prayer. We express our thanks, our faith, our love, our hopes with God in prayer, and we receive from Him answers, assurance, guidance, peace, strength, power, revelation of Who He is and what He wants to do. (Matthew 7:7-8; John 16:13; Philippians 4:6-7; Ephesians 1:17,18). + PRESENCE OF GOD Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? Ps. 139:7 How great is Your goodness which You bestow on those who take refuge in You. In the shelter of Your presence You protect us, and in Your dwelling You keep us safe. Ps. 31:19-20 PSALM 27 Listen, Lord, to my voice as I cry: have mercy and listen to me. Seek His face, my heart has said, and so I will seek Your face, O Lord. Do not turn Your face away from me, do not turn from Your servant in anger. You are my helper, do not reject me; do not abandon me, God, my help. For when my father and mother have abandoned me, the Lord will take me up. Show me your ways, Lord, and guide me along the right path. I trust I shall see the joys of the Lord in the land of the living. Hope in the Lord, be brave, let your heart take comfort and trust in the Lord. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
HYMN: STANDING IN THE NEED OF PRAYER Not my brother, not my sister, Not my brother, not my sister, Not the preacher, not the sinner, Not the preacher, not the sinner, Not my mother, not my father, Not my mother, not my father, It's me, it's me, it's me, oh Lord SCRIPTURE Ecclesiasticus 18:22 Let nothing hinder thee from praying always 1 Thessalonians 5:17 Pray without ceasing. Luke 22:40 Pray, lest you enter into temptation.
MATTHEW 6: 5-15 "When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. "This is how you are to pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and do not subject us to the final test, but deliver us from the evil one. If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions. + Acquire the habit of speaking to God as if you were alone with Him, familiarly and with confidence and love, as to the dearest and most loving of friends. Speak to Him often of your business, your plans, your troubles, your fears of everything that concerns you. Converse with Him confidently and frankly; for God is not wont to speak to a soul that does not speak to Him. St. Alphonsus de Liguori Pray as if everything depended upon God and work as if everything depended upon man. ---Francis Cardinal Spellman
REFLECTION ON PRAYER By HALLEY LOW Many years ago, it was my habit to take a monthly day of prayer at the Cenacle Retreat House in Lake Ronkonkoma. This lovely retreat house is a spiritual oasis hidden within the noise and hubbub of suburban Long Island. The house is grand in size but modest in appearance and décor. Hanging on the wall in the little elevator of this four-story sanctuary was a little framed line drawing. At the bottom of the drawing was a written message Prayer is animated conversation with God. The drawing is no longer in the elevator, yet the message has stayed with me through these long years. I believe the message was ingrained in my mind because within this simple phrase I found what is the essence of prayer. Webster defines the word animated as having life, and likewise defines conversation as an informal talk together. This short and simple message taught me that prayer is a living informal talk between myself and God, an on-going conversation because it involves both talking and listening. Living because it flows unendingly back and forth between my living soul and the living God. It is informal because my relationship with God is the most intimate relationship I will ever have and in that intimacy, with One Who knows me better than I know myself, I speak and listen with my heart not my head. Jesus taught that prayer is not a magic formula in which one hopes to win favor by the sheer repetition of words. I have heard many people talk about the power of prayer, but I do not believe that prayer, in and of itself, has any power - prayer is not magic. One can pray for health or riches or transformation, but it is not prayer itself that will manifest those needs or desires. It is by the power of the living God, in loving response to prayer, that needs are met and desires attained in accordance with His will. When Jesus was asked how to pray He said to pray in this manner Our Father, Who is in heaven, holy is Your Name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins as we forgive the sins of others. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. When Jesus said this is how you should pray, I do not believe He meant for these words to become a fixed and formal prayer, (though I am not suggesting that
there is anything wrong with reciting His words as recorded in the gospels), yet I believe He meant these words to serve as an example of the way to pray, and wants us to conform our prayer to the spirit and not the formulation. The spirit of prayer brings acknowledgment of our intimate relationship with our Creator - a deeply connected sense of parent and child, giving God honor and respect, while recognizing the immediate presence of God. The spirit of prayer calls us to give our life to His kingdom, and to surrender our will so that His will may be fulfilled through us in our world now. Jesus said that God s will is to love one another as I have loved you and to do unto others as you would have them do onto you, this is the law and the prophets. In surrendering our will to His we accept the commission to be a loving people whose strength is in God and not ourselves. The spirit of prayer reminds us that God provides for all our needs, and what we need most is His love, which is from everlasting to everlasting. The spirit of prayer teaches that God is our rock in Whom we are to place our full trust, both in our days of ease and our times of trouble, for God is in control. Paul writes that we should pray unceasingly, and I think this is what he means, having that continuous living flow between the heart and the heart of God. I have found that in those moments when I am in deepest prayer, when I am fully aware of the intimate nature of my relationship with God, somehow words become hollow. All the praises, petitions, thanksgivings, all of which He knows before I speak, just fade away into holy silence, and there in that place of quiet stillness my heart and His heart enjoy the animated conversation that is beyond human expression. PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION Let us pray for the witness of the whole church: O God, You have graced us with the gift of life and a world to live in. Empower and strengthen Your church that true to its calling it may witness to Your radical and boundless love, in word and deed. Saving God, You nourish and sustain us by Word and Sacrament. Strengthen all the people of our church, especially our bishops, our pastors, pastoral ministers and all Religion teachers. Grant that sustained in You, our service and witness in this land may be full of faith and love.
O God, Source of our Life, You have adopted us in the waters of baptism and made us Your own in love. May we embrace our lives and the lives of others with courage and compassion, unafraid of joy and pain, sickness and health. May Your care be made known in our care. God of Justice, You revealed Your power in the servanthood of Jesus. May those who govern the nations use their authority in wisdom, kindness and peacefulness. Liberating God, You are the hope of the weak and the needy. Rescue those who suffer when they cry out. Open the ears of our hearts to hear and quicken in us the fire to respond in love. Compassionate One, You are a well-spring of comfort and healing. Grant comfort, healing and release to those in need. Awaken in us boundless compassion and use us as agents of loving kindness. God of All Generations, we thank You for the gift of the lives and the loving service of all who have died. Keep us in the bonds of love with all the saints throughout the ages and bring us to the fullness of your reign. O God of Love, hear the prayers of Your people. Enliven us, by Your Spirit, to live in the fullness of Your reign. We pray through Jesus, our Life and our Hope. Amen. A PRAYER When the tomb looms large before our eyes, remind us, Lord, who we are: We are children of the resurrection; the place of death will not hold us. We are the painters of the rainbows; the shadow of death will not daunt us. We are the breakers of loaves and fishes; the taste of death will not defile us. We are the raisers of the dead; the power of death will not defy us. We are the people of Pentecost; the spirit of death will not destroy us! God is our refuge and our strength. We gather in the power and sure promise of resurrection.
Lent is a good time to begin or take up a fresh practice of meditation of Holy Scripture, reading and praying over a few verses, as one miracle or parable of our Lord, or one mystery in His Passion, and begging God to apply its lessons to yourself. Most persons could give a few minutes each day during Lent to this practice, and by its means would certainly be enabled to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ. In making any rule for this practice, it is better to devote a certain lime (say five, ten, or thirty minutes, as you may be able), rather than to resolve to read a certain quantity of verses. + Saint John Baptist de La Salle and all you holy Lasallian men and women who have gone before us, help us to cultivate a spirit of prayer in our daily lives. Live Jesus in our hearts. Forever! Prayer is when you talk to God; meditation is when you listen to God. Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer. Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.