Lord Teach Us To Pray

The Lord taught  his disciples the Lord’s prayer and gave a  discourse on prayer.

When to pray? 
 Any moment in time because  God is  always on call 24/7

How to begin?
 Start  by reciting the ,”Our Father” by this we give  reverence and praise to God. We give Him honor and recognize Him as the  Creator, the source of all that we have and that we are.

What should be the disposition of the person  who is praying? .
 Go to God not only as one going to  a friend but,  to a Father. There is  no need to convince him as He  is already at our side. He loves us. He is our Dad, Father.

What to pray for?
There are things we pray for and do not pray for but which God is willing to give.
We pray for materials gifts-   where as God wants to give us life
We pray for things outside of  ourselves which we think can make us happy for some moments but God  is thinking of happiness from within which lasts.
We pray for success that will allow us to Lord it on  others but God  thinks of purifying experiences that will make us humbly say to Him” forgive as our sins so that we also forgive others.

Prayer is a conversation with God. It  is not  a monologue it is  a 2- way traffic. After we have said  our piece to God; - joys and blessings received, anxieties and problems encountered,etc. We are  to give God a chance to say His piece to us too. We ask Him,“Lord what do you want me to do?”
In prayer it is not God who should change, but it has to be us. God is not made in our image and likeness: but, we are to His. He should therefore be the one to shape us and not the other way around. Let us learn to totally embrace God’s will and we  shall love peace.

Perseverance in prayer.
In prayer of petition, perseverance is important. He tells us to continue knocking even when the door is closed.
Our prayers are always answered but at times the answer God gives is  different from the request we have made. God is a  wise Father. He is a very loving God. He knows better  what is good for us  more than we do. This is why He sometimes has to change what we ask Him for.
We cannot at times understand  why God does not give us the very thing we ask for. But we can be certain of this: He always hears and answers our prayer. But it is His way. The best time is His time. 
Does asking God for things or asking Him to do things, in a way can help  persuade God to change His mind in doing certain things? Obviously not. God doesn’t need human wisdom to guide him. Nor does he feel human persuasion to get him to do what is good and right.

Why then do we pray for things?
 Blaise Pascal, 17th century mathematician answered that question this way: “Prayer is one of the ways that God chose to share his infinite power with us. Just as God’s gift of intelligence gives each one of us power, so the gift of prayer gives us power."
God set up the universe in such a way that we can  understand it , not only by the exercise of human prayer. Not every person can influence human affairs by the power of his/her intelligence but every person even with a low I.Q can influence human affairs by the power of prayer that God shares us.
God made us more than spectator to his creative power. He has given us a share in it. This is part of what it means to be made  unto the  “image and likeness of God."

A Nobel Prize winning surgeon named Alexis Carmel summed up the power and role of prayer this way:
Prayer is a mature activity indispensable to the fullest development of personality. Only in prayer do we achieve that complete and harmonious assembly of body, mind and spirit which gives the human, the needed strength.

Remember: When you pray, you are united with God and you share of his power and strength!
When we pray:
   1.    We are united with God- we share more of His life, power and strength.
   2.    When we pray we deepen our personal relationship with Him, we see our dependence and trust in God as a child to his Father. Indeed we learn to perceive God as a Father and we His children. We therefore immense ourselves into our intimate relationship with God and with one another.
   
   St. Therese,  prayed for  conversion of   a criminal,who did not belive in God, and   who was to be executed by guillotine.It was reported that at  the last moment of his life, he  kissed the crucifix.  
  St Monica, the mother of St. Augustine,prayed unceasingly for the conversion of her son. God listened to her prayers. Her son did not only become a priest,but a very good and holy bishop and a doctor of the Church. His spirituality has  greatly influenced many. 

  Pray  therefore, for your son/daughter/wife/husband.Pray unceasingly and pray with great faith. God will hear your prayers.And more prayers means more grace, little prayer give little grace and no prayer ,no grace. 


The Cross and Our Nothingness: The Beginning of Renewal

When Christ said: “when I am lifted up from the earth, I shall draw all to myself” he was referring to the CROSS. Through his death, passion, his total emptiness, He was able to give life in abundance. He did not force life on us, on mankind. It is up to us to receive. We are supposed to be multipliers of life in the sense that we pass this on to others. What He had gone through, we will also go through – by reaching out to the poor, by bringing about a community of disciples of the Lord.

No matter how beautiful our programs are, even with all the knowledge from modern science, still, we can never set aside the Cross. We can never disregard His sufferings and pains. It will be through our own death that we will be able to give life—through our own sufferings. In this process, we will be fulfilling what is lacking in the Body of Christ. If we know the reason why we suffer, or why we die, I think there will already be joy in our hearts. It is like the joy when life is born from a mother’s pain; like a seed that dies from which life springs. The final reality here is that of the Resurrection, and we are destined to share in it. That is what is beyond the Cross.

When we empty ourselves we allow God to enter and communicate Himself to us. I should find Him in me, as I find Him in others. In the same way, following His command: “Love one another as I have loved you”, we should find Christ in one another. The perfection of that selfless love is, of course, in dying for  others. Perfection is surely not to be found in this life. Perhaps, we have glimpses of it and the Lord gives us foretastes of things to come. But it is after death that perfection starts. It is a paradox. In death, time ends and eternity begins – that we are indeed in the bosom of the Father, in the Trinity. We contemplate that reality which is always new, it never grows old, “beauty ever ancient, ever new”. It is the reality that we don’t see because the self locks us up in many things. It is a life-long struggle, but as St. Paul said, “I can do all things…” He himself experienced this. It boils down to the fact that God is all and we are nothing.

This is the reality that we have to discern with new eyes, but we begin with our nothingness. Then we will be a new creation.

From these varied excerpts of homilies by our Bishop, our minds and hearts were opened to a persistent question of our human  experience. How often have we asked, sometimes in hopelessness, that question : Christ, where are you?”

The Bishop gives us the words of Christ himself. He sets before us the life of the Lord.



The Three Aspects of Christian Life

   1.      CONCERN FOR OTHERS
   2.      RECIPROCITY
   3.      AND PERSONAL HOLINESS.

1.    CONCERN FOR OTHERS

1.    "Let us be concerned for each other": responsibility towards our brothers and sisters.

This first aspect is an invitation to be "concerned": the Greek verb used here is katanoein, which means to scrutinize, to be attentive, to observe carefully and take stock of something.  the verb which introduces our exhortation tells us to look at others, first of all at Jesus, to be concerned for one another, and not to remain isolated and indifferent to the fate of our brothers and sisters.  All too often, however, our attitude is just the opposite: an indifference and disinterest born of selfishness and masked as a respect for "privacy".

God asks us to be "guardians" of our brothers and sisters (Gen 4:9), to establish relationships based on mutual consideration and attentiveness to the well-being, the integral well-being of others. The great commandment of love for one another demands that we acknowledge our responsibility towards those who, like ourselves, are creatures and children of God. 
The Servant of God Pope Paul VI  stated that the world today is suffering above all from a lack of brotherhood which is caused by  the weakening of brotherly ties between individuals and nations" (Populorum Progressio).
 
CONCERN FOR OTHERS ENTAILS  THE FOLLOWING DEMANDS:
   1.)    Desiring what is good for them from every point of view: physical, moral and spiritual.  The good is whatever gives, protects and promotes life, brotherhood and communion.  It means desiring and working for the good of others.

   2.)    Concern for others means being aware of their needs.  Sacred Scripture warns us of the danger that our hearts can become hardened by a sort of "spiritual anesthesia"  which numbs us to the suffering of others. In that of Dives and Lazarus, the rich man is heedless of the poverty of Lazarus, who is starving to death at his very door. 

WHAT CAUSES LACK OF CONCERN? Often it is the possession of material riches  ( material wealth, sense of self-sufficiency, me above others,  it can also be the tendency to put our own interests and problems above all else. 
How can we develop a sense of compassion and empathy?
a.)    Humbleness of heart
b.)     personal experience of sufferings
c.)    Reaching out to others
d.)   opening our hearts to their needs can become an opportunity for salvation and blessedness
   3.)    "Being concerned for each other" also entails being concerned for their spiritual well-being through fraternal correction. The Scriptures tell us: "Reprove not an arrogant man, lest he hate you: reprove a wise man, and he will love you “ (Prov 9:8ff). Christ himself commands us to admonish a brother who is committing a sin (cf. Mt 18:15).” If your brother sins against you,go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you,you have won over your brother”.It is part of the  mission of Christians to speak out against a generation indulging in evil (cf. Eph 5:11), “Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness,rather expose them.” . The Church's tradition has included "admonishing sinners" among the spiritual works of mercy.
It is important to recover this dimension of Christian charity. We must not remain silent before evil. I am thinking of all those Christians who, out of human regard or purely personal convenience, adapt to the prevailing mentality, rather than warning their brothers and sisters against ways of thinking and acting that are contrary to the truth and that do not follow the path of goodness.

Christian admonishment, out of love and mercy  for its part, is never motivated by a spirit of accusation or recrimination. As the Apostle Paul says: " Brothers, even if a person is caught in some transgression,you who are spiritual should correct that one in a gentle spirit,looking to yourself,so that you also may not be tempted.” (Gal 6:1). There will always be a need for a gaze which loves and admonishes, which knows and understands, which discerns and forgives (cf. Lk 22:61), as God has done and continues to do with each of us.
 We then need to  help others and allow them to help us, so that we can be open to the whole truth about ourselves, improve our lives and walk more uprightly in the Lord's ways. This mutual correction and encouragement in a spirit of humility and charity form  part of the life of the Christian community.

2. "BEING CONCERNED FOR EACH OTHER":
                   THE GIFT OF  RECIPROCITY.

Being concerned for each other calls us not to be blind physical sufferings and to the spiritual and moral demands of life. We have to seek the ways to   peace , seek ways to support one another  and  not but rather work for the common good.
We have to be united  with the Lord through the Eucharist, live in a fellowship that binds them  to one another .  This means that the other is part of me, and that his or her life, his or her salvation, concern my own life and salvation. Thus , our existence is related to that of others , it has its social dimension.    .
 Christians can also express their membership in the one body which is the Church through  :
a.) concrete concern for the poorest of the poor 
b)  acknowledging the good that the Lord is doing in others and 
c). giving thanks for the wonders of grace that Almighty God in his goodness continuously accomplishes in his children.  When Christians perceive the Holy Spirit at work in others, they cannot but rejoice and give glory to the heavenly Father (cf. Mt 5:16).

3."TO STIR A RESPONSE IN LOVE AND GOOD WORKS": WALKING TOGETHER IN HOLINESS.

Being concerned for one another should spur us to an increasingly effective love which, "like the light of dawn, its brightness growing to the fullness of day" (Prov 4:18), makes us live each day as an anticipation of the eternal day awaiting us in God. The time granted us in this life is precious for discerning and performing good works in the love of God. In this way the Church herself continuously grows towards the full maturity of Christ (cf. Eph 4:13).

Blocks to our growth  and holiness : a).  temptation to become lukewarm, b.) to quench the Spirit ,c.)  to refuse to invest the talents we have received, for our own good and for the good of others (cf. Mt 25:25ff.).

All of us have received spiritual or material riches meant to be used for the fulfilment of God's plan, for the good of the Church and for our personal salvation (cf. Lk 12:21b; 1 Tim 6:18).

Saint Paul exhorts us to "anticipate one another  in showing honour" (Rom 12:10).

In a world which demands of Christians a renewed witness of love and fidelity to the Lord, may all of us feel the urgent need to anticipate one another in charity, service and good works (cf. Heb 6:10).

The Characteristics of Love

1.    LOVE EVERYONE

The first characteristic of Christian love is to reach out to all. It requires to love everyone as God does, without distinction, without discrimination.
“But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good ,and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  (Mt. 5:44-45) . Loving everyone starts in loving our neighbor, right now.  As Christians we are to love not with some platonic or idealized love but with a practical love, in a concrete and effective way right now.  Because charity is a participation in the agape of God so we are able to go beyond the limits of natural love, by loving even  our enemies and laying down our life for our brothers and sisters

2.    BE THE FIRST TO LOVE

 In this love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.  (1Jn 4:10)

If we are to love like God and develop the capacity to love which God has placed in our hearts we must love as he does.  He does not wait for us to love Him but has always in countless ways  shown us that he is the first to love us regardless of our response .  Because we were created to be a gift to one another, when we reach out to others even without any sign of love on their part , we are just being faithful to our true selves. In imitation of God who loved us so much we   also have  to love one another , “beloved since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another ( 1Jn.4:11)    .Christian love brings us to live the commandment of love in a radical way.   It leads us to BE THE FIRST TO LOVE. Without waiting for the other to love, we take the initiative to love the other person. It leads our heart to love  the least lovable: the poor who because of their poverty cannot repay us in return, (Lk.14:13-14), to whoever in our home, in our workplace, or in our school who need   mercy and forgiveness , attention, care and concern. To be able to do this , it is important to approach everyone with new eyes, not remembering any faults or defects but to cover these with love, forgiveness and mercy. Just like God who forgives and forgets.

3.    LOVE AS YOU LOVE YOURSELF

“Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt. 19:19)
Another well-known characteristic of love is expressed  in  (Lk. 6:31) “Do to others as you would have them do to you” . If this alone were practiced, it would be sufficient to make the whole world a great family .This is the so called “ Golden Rule” which  Gandhi translated to mean as “ You and I are one,I cannot injure you without harming myself”.  The gospel says, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt. 19:19)  This command of Jesus puts us in constant tension, because by nature, we love ourselves, it is beyond our nature. But because of the gift of charity  which is divine and which we receive , we can really love others. We can love with a Christian love which enable us of  truly giving comfort to our neighbors as we would have ourselves comforted.

4.    MAKE YOURSELF AS ONE

                             “ I have become all things to all.” (1 Cor. 9:22)
 How can  true love for others be put into practice? The answer  is to Make Yourself One . To make yourself one with others means  making their thoughts and problems your own ,sharing in their joys and sufferings, celebrating in their joys and successes. In order to Make Yourself  one, we have to follow God’s own way, to be one so much so that he said, “To the weak I became weak,to win over the weak. I have become all things to all, to save at least some. (1Cor 9:22). God Himself became human like us, to be crucified and forsaken, reducing Himself to our level in order to show us his immense love. To make yourself one means we have to be poor in spirit, abandoning ourselves, of our own comfort when we are called to help someone in need. It means dying to ourselves, to our own ego and to very material as well as spiritual attachments. When we are empty , we are able to approach everyone with willingness to learn and to be the recipient of the goodness of others, to empty ourselves of our own prejudices, our own worries and concerns. It will further allow us  to listen, to understand, and be able to enter into the hearts and minds of other people.

5.    LOVING JESUS IN EVERYONE


Evangelical love means we see Jesus in our neighbor. In describing the last judgment: “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink… Then the righteous will answer him,”Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink…?  Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me. (Mt. 25:35,40). If Christ is present in everyone,we cannot show any discrimination or prefer some people over others because of nationality,social condition,personal attributes or wealth. Christ  is behind every person,he is in each one. 

Charity: The Art of Loving

The Lenten season offers us once again an opportunity to reflect upon the very heart of Christian life: CHARITY. This is a favourable time to renew our journey of faith, both as individuals and as a community, with the help of the word of God and the sacraments. This journey is one marked by prayer and sharing, silence and fasting, in anticipation of the joy of Easter.

Chiara often quotes the Gospel according to St. John, “God is love”. Because God is self-giving, we who are made into His image and likeness are called beyond generosity, manifested in  the sharing of things, to self-sacrifice, the sharing of one’s life.  Deeper into its meaning, we are called to a joyful unity with God and with others.God is love, St. John expressed this in (1Jn.4:7-8) "Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God: everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love”. Love is what  God expects of every Christian, because in Christianity love is everything. St. Augustine said, very emphatically: Christians are identified by love alone. Those who have charity are born of God  and those who lack it are not born of God”. St. Paul  emphasized what Christ  said  during  his discourse, “ this  is how all will  know that you are my disciples if you  have love  for one another”. (Jn. 13: 35)

Loving is good, but knowing how to love  has to be learned. Christian love is an art and therefore must be learned. Our culture rarely seeks to learn the art of loving, and despite our desperate search for love we end up considering everything else more important: success, prestige, money, power. We devote almost all our energy pursuing these goals but make no effort to learn the ART OF LOVING.
Christ’s Gospel is our guide in the practice of the art of loving. Putting love into real experiences  is an indispensable first step, a revolution  that is both radical  and forceful yet peaceful .

The Art of Loving is challenging. It makes great demands. It goes beyond the natural love  that is reserved  for family and friends. It has to be directed toward everyone: sinner or saint, , beautiful and ugly, educated and simple, poor and rich, foreigner or Filipino, Christian or not, whether friend or foe. Just as Christ , He was the first to love and loved us even when we are “bad” or sinful.   It is a kind of love which makes us consider the other person as ourselves, if we make us see ourselves in the other person. In the words of Gandhi: You and I are one. I cannot injure you without harming myself”.

This kind of love requires that we make ourselves one with others. It is when we share in their sufferings, joys and pains, that  we are able to understand them, which  in turn enable us to serve and help them in an effective and practical way.  It is on this basis of love that we are saved, for whatever we do to the least of our brothers , we have done it to  Christ”.(Mt. 25:40) .

On the Dangers of Hoarding

The preacher:  Vanity of vanities. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity!
What does the word “vanity” mean? It is repeated in 2 lines. It is clear that the one called the Preacher finds it important. The word means: something “worthless, nonsense, without real meaning, no value!

Something that is called a “vanity” is something that has no lasting value. It passes quickly   It is truly of no use. The man who speaks those words: a wise man. He has gained his wisdom through experience by going through different kinds of situations. He has tried this and that and he finds satisfaction in nothing. He himself says it in another part of his book. (2, 1-11)

“I thought to myself very well. I will try pleasure and see what enjoyment has to offer. And there it was :vanity again .  This laughter I reflected is a madness,this pleasure no use at all. I resolved to have my body cheered with wine, I decided to hand my body over to drinking wine worked on a grand scale, I built myself pleasure. I bought slaves, male and female herds and flocks. I too had more than anyone in Jerusalem before me.  I amassed  silver and gold. I grew greater than anyone before me. I refused my eyes nothing they desired, refused my heart no pleasure, a heart  that found all my work a pleasure. I then reflected on all that my hands achieved ,what vanity it all is, and what  chasing of the  wind! There is nothing to be gained under the sun.

Did you hear those things that this wise man had tried: pleasure, drinking, houses, slaves, money, power and at the end he says all this comes to nothing . It is all worthless- it does not make someone truly happy.
To explain what those things are, he uses a very clear  comparison like chasing after the wind. Can you picture yourself running after the wind? In which direction will you  catch it? We all know it is impossible,  and it is for nothing . The word vanity also means this: a foolish running after something useless.

In the gospel, we get from Jesus a similar message. A man came to Jesus because there is a conflict between him and his brother over  their  inheritance. He wants Jesus to tell his brother to give him the share that is his due. Jesus uses this occasion to teach, not only  to that man but  for all of us too. He says: “Watch and be on guard against greed _of any kind for a man’s life is not made secure by what he owns . When he has more than what  he needs.

Take care to guard against all greed for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of material possessions.

Jesus stresses His teaching by telling a story. A story that makes what He wants to say fully understood by his listeners.  It is the story of a man who had such a rich harvest that all his stores/warehouses are full, and he still has plenty to put aside. So he decides to destroy  the old  warehouse and built  a bigger one and enjoy life. Listen to him.

I say to my soul (myself)
You have plenty of good things laid by for many years to come take things easy, eat, drink and have a good time!
But God said, “Fool, this very night, this night, and your life will be demanded of you, and the things you have possessed  to whom will they belong? ”

And Jesus summarizes the story by telling us : “So it is when a man store up treasures for himself in place of making himself rich in the sight of God.”(Lk.12:20-21)

What Do I Live For? What Am I Living For?

What is the purpose of your  life in the  first place? Let each one of us look at  himself/herself, and try to   answer these  questions  in his/her heart:

      1.    Am I thinking only to get always more and more money
      2.    My riches, house, car  and other possessions-  are they the important things in my life
      3. Am I so busy getting all kinds of thing that I have no time for God?
4. Am I rich before the eyes of people or am I rich in the eyes of God?

Rich in his friendship which comes first in my life. Rich in sharing with others the good things God have blessed me with.

Material possession are  not necessarily evil .  Having  money , living in a palatial  house, drinking  costly wine with  friends , having enough in life: these things are not evil. But the preacher says these things cannot bring us lasting happiness. They  can be  disappear quickly. Soon they  can be  gone like the mist in the early morning.  And Jesus tells  us that such possessions  cannot give us security. If we trust them to give us happiness and peace of heart, we will be greatly disappointed, like someone chasing  the wind: Jesus reminds us,  “what does it profit a man. To gain the whole world but suffers the loss of his soul? . (Lk. 9, 25).

What Jesus also wants of  us today is to watch, to be on guard against this attitude of gathering, hoarding, storing, accumulating  all these things, while forgetting God and forgetting also to share what He has given  us.

One’s life does not depend on earthly/material possession.

One’s life should be: this He is rich in the eyes of God.