HOMILY Constant Prayer -- Not an Option! Father Larry Richards Moderator, Bread of Life Community Homily for the 7th Sunday of Easter Cycle A READINGS: Acts 1:12-14; 1 Peter 4:13-16; John 17:1-11a Today the homily has got to get your attention more than any other homily I ve ever given. It s just got to. It s the biggest burden on my heart for every person here this is what we as individuals, as a community, must do and become, or we will be lost. It s that important. This is the CORE of what it is to follow Christ. To do that, what we need to do is focus for a moment on the First Reading, from the Acts of the Apostles. Everyone get there - it s Acts Chapter 1. I want you to underline "big time" verse 14. "Together, they devoted themselves to constant prayer. There were some women in their company, and Mary, the mother of Jesus and His brothers. Together, they devoted themselves to constant prayer." That is what we, both as individuals and a community must do above ALL THINGS - not going out and jumping up and down. We ve got to devote ourselves to constant prayer. More than anything else in our lives, I must be a person of constant prayer! The FRUSTRATION of that is that in talking to my kids every day at Prep, and in talking to people in the parish constantly, when I ask you if you pray every day, the answer is "No." THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR US NOT TO BE IN DAILY PRAYER!! THERE IS NO EXCUSE TO MISS ONE DAY OF PRAYER. NONE! ZILCH! CAN T HAPPEN! And yet, how many of us are not dedicated to constant prayer? That s why we re not alive enough. There are some people who are very alive and pray all the time, I realize that. I m talking to those who aren t. Please don t sit there and say, "I m glad I m one of those who pray all the time." Are you praying enough? Huh? Sit there and think about it. Am I a person of
prayer? There is an interesting part to verse 14, and I want to focus on this for just a moment. In the second part of verse 14, it says that they prayed with someone pretty important - who was that? They named her by name - MARY! They prayed with Mary. Now, this is the month of Mary. There are people who have a "problem" with Mary. Get over it! The early Apostles prayed with Mary, for the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, isn t this interesting? What had just happened here in the Acts of the Apostles? What happened preceding this one part? Jesus ascended into Heaven. It is the time between the Ascension and Pentecost. Now, they don t go out right away and proclaim the Good News. A lot of us want to "do" things. "Ok - it s time, let s go out and do things." That s not what the apostles did. For nine days, they did nothing but pray. It s hard to say, "Nothing but pray," because prayer is EVERYTHING. Everything depends on our prayer life. God uses us. When we plug into Him, then it s His Grace that flows through me, and not my power. Then I bring God, and I don t bring myself. Then I bring HIS ideas and not my ideas. Then I bring my humility and God s power. Pride does not get in the way if I am a person of prayer. And, I pray with Our Lady. Today in the Gospel, what happens again? Jesus is showing us someone who is praying. He is in prayer. He is praying to the Father. Constantly. So, let s get some practicalities about this. First, how much time do you set aside every day for prayer? Please don t tell me it s when you go to bed at night - sometimes you pray and sometimes you don t because you re very tired that s not good enough. Sorry! That s fitting God into the very end of your day. No - you and I have got to put prayer first in our lives. That s putting God first. You can t sit there and say that God is first in your life if prayer isn t first in your life - you can t say it! You can t say it! You cannot say God is first in your life, unless prayer is first in your life. Period. Why do you wake up in the morning? Do you wake up to go to church? Do you wake up to go to school? Do you wake up to go to work? Do you wake up to take a dump? Why do you wake up? Do you wake up for God first? Is He the reason you wake up in the morning? Do you have to be at work at 8:00 a.m.? Do you wake up about 7:30? So, you are waking up to go to work. Why don t you wake up at 6:30 so you can spend a half hour in prayer? "Uh - cause I m very tired, Father." If you re going to be man or woman enough to go to work, you d better be man or woman enough to wake up for prayer. That is the most important thing in your life. I see people in school when it s been a week since their last confession. I ask
them - "Did you pray every day?" "No Father." OOOHHH! I see you every week and you re not praying every day? "No Father. Well, not every day, Father." There s no excuse! There just isn t. You know, you and I choose to do or not do things. We choose it. We choose to pray or not pray. So, the first thing is, "How much time are you giving each day to prayer?" If you re not giving much, or anything, or you "just pray all the time," that s not good enough. That s as much of a cop-out as a cop-out can be. "Oh, I m always talking to God." That s very nice. Jesus WAS God, and what did He do to the Father? He spent all night in prayer! He didn t just say, "Oh, my whole life is a prayer. I talk to the Father all day." That s isn t what Jesus said. And, if He as God had to spend HOURS and NIGHTS in prayer, then you and I must, MUST, MUST set time aside every day for prayer. We don t sit there and say, "Every day I talk to Him all the time." Get a life! Prayer is more about listening, relationship. I cannot be listening to God unless I m giving Him time. I m not just supposed to be talking to God. God knows everything about you. He doesn t need to know anything more. The purpose of you and me is found in the Gospel today. Go to John Chapter 17:3. "This is eternal life - to know You." To know you - to know God- to know Him. Again, the Church has always said that "God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, so I can be happy with Him forever in the next. The purpose of my existence is to know God. I cannot know God by always talking. Impossible. "I talk to Him every day." Very nice. Do you know God? Do you know Him? The way you get to know somebody is by LISTENING to them. Do you have committed daily silence in your prayer? Do you have committed daily time for silence? If not, you ll never come to know God. You need to know Psalm 46:11 - know it - "Be still, and know that I am God." The way we come to know God is by being still. Do you have in your life, committed, daily stillness before the Throne of God? Again, that s not an option. I m trying to get everyone s attention here. Have you got it? This is the core of our life. It must be, or we re going to become Pharisees - we re going to go through the motions, making judgments about who s right, who s wrong, who s alive in the Spirit, who s not alive in the Spirit - get over all that garbage. Are YOU committed to daily silence in prayer? The second thing you need to do is to find a place in your home, or a place where you go to for prayer. If you live alone, you could have a shrine set up in your room - just a little place. It could be a chair, it could be a little corner of the room where you have a crucifix, where you have a candle. My classmate, Fr. Ed has a chair, and every morning he goes and gets a cup of coffee and he lights a candle, and he spends a half hour in aloneness with God. Where is it for you? Is there a place in your life, on a consistent, daily level, that you know is
the place you meet Jesus every day? Is there a place that you could show me to if I said, "Come on, show me your place of prayer." Could you take me to a place in your house where you meet Jesus? It s apart - just for you and Jesus to meet. And again, don t say, "I just pray all the time EVERYWHERE." That s very nice. Where do you make the intimacy with God? You have a place where you meet your husband or wife on an intimate level. You could show me the place. Can you show me the place where you meet Jesus on an intimate level every day? Consistent daily prayer. You need to find a time for daily prayer and make it consistent. You need to find a place for daily prayer, and make it consistent! That s for your private prayer. You also need to pray as a community, as a family. You fathers out here are in charge of the prayer lives of your family. Have you taken spiritual control of your house? Have you gathered the family together on a daily basis, for at least a moment or two, and prayed with them? Have you taken spiritual authority of your family, and prayed on a consistent basis as a family? The family that prays together stays together. That s your responsibility, fathers, yours - one that you ll stand in judgment about. Did you take control of the spiritual life of your family? You re the head of the house. You are the priest of the family, if you will. Going beyond the family, we have to come together as a community. We pray consistently as a community every day, Monday through Friday, at 6:00 a.m. at St. Lukes. Every day there s about three, four or five of us that pray consistently. Everybody is welcome to that. You are welcome tomorrow, the next day, consistently you can pray with us. In Acts Chapter 2:42 it says, "They devoted themselves to the teaching of the Apostles, to the community life, to the Breaking of Bread and to prayer." That is what the core of our community must be. We must dedicate ourselves together as a community of prayer. We are in the middle of a nine day Novena to the Holy Spirit. It began on Friday, continued yesterday, continues tonight with me, continues tomorrow, and on and on and on. Nine days we come together as a community of prayer. Have you made one of those days yet? Is that a commitment of yours, to make time for the Novena where we come together as a community and pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit? The point of my life must be that I become a prayer. The only way that I become a prayer is by stillness in the Father s arms. By being still. What I want to encourage you today is not to leave this place without looking at Christ, and being honest with Christ in your heart - no making excuses about why you do what you do - don t make any more excuses, enough! We are the ones who
determine our future and our lives by what we decide to do or not do. I can make a decision today that there will never be another day of my life that I am not committed to God in prayer. I can make the decision today that there will never be another day in my life that I don t spend quality time in stillness before God. Because, until we "get" that that s the MOST IMPORTANT THING IN OUR LIVES, nothing else is going to make sense to us. Our commitment to God, our time in prayer MUST BE THE MOST IMPORTANT THING OF OUR DAY. I don t wake up in the morning, and think, "When am I going to get my prayer time in." I wake up in the morning knowing when my prayer time is, when am I going to get everything else done? Prayer time is not a secondary thing. It must be first. Have you got that? Do you get it? GOOD - NOW LIVE IT! May each of you know his love today and forever. Amen.