30th Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle C
Gospel: Lk. 18, 9 - 14
'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!'
The parable of the rich man and poor man's prayer reveals a lot about the meaning of prayer. First, prayer does not rely on our effectiveness to pray. Rather, it's simply grace. The very act of prayer is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. We would not be able to call God 'Abba' or Father had it not been for the Holy Spirit.
Second, prayer connects us with our loving God and makes communication possible. Prayer is a dialog between us and the Lord. Dialog becomes possible when one listens and shares. Prayer is not authentic when we talk more but listen less. Thus, thus fruit of authentic prayer is the ability to see the Lord and the capacity to know who we are in relation to Him. Prayer is a dialog between the lover and the beloved.
Third, prayer is God present in the world through the concrete manifestation of prayer and life. Our prayer comes true not only because God hears our prayers, but also, he uses us so we can prayers answered when we serve others and entrust all of our actions to God.
Do you have a special prayer? Pray as the poor man prays: totally dependent on God, totally recognizing God as God, and totally entrusting oneself to God.
Prayer is our direct link to God.It forms the bond that creates the foundation on which to build and strengthen our relationship with Him.We are all equal in the eyes of God.Whether we are poor,rich,healthy or sick,we are all His creatures and therefore He loves us all.How we talk to Him is what makes the difference.
ReplyDeleteWhen we talk to Him in prayer,we can only be ourselves.Nothing more and nothing less.After all,He is our creator and therefore He knows the very core of our being.He knows what is in our thoughts,what is in our hearts and what is in our soul and therefore,in talking to Him there can be no lies,no pretense,no deception.There can only be truth.
On a human level,we could easily deceive and be deceived.But with God,nothing can be hidden from Him.
God's light and blessings shine upon all His creatures,whether you are a believer or not,whether you are sincere or not and whether you are good or bad but in the end only the true believers will be saved.
- from Andrea