Sunday 24th Reflection By Fr Emile Kouma
What to pray and how to pray?
The main topic that arises from the readings of this Sunday is prayer. All believers in God, whatever their religion, pray. Christians pray too. Generally they pray for their various needs. But what is prayer exactly? What do we really pray for? How and why should we pray? The first reading and the gospel give us the replies to these questions. They emphasise on the power of intercessory prayer, on the “Our Father” as the ideal prayer, and on the necessity for persistence and perseverance in prayer with trusting faith and boldness.
What is prayer?
Prayer is really a dialogue with God, our Loving and Merciful Father. It’s a mutual communication. To pray is to talk to God as to a friend. St John Chrysostom said: “Do not forget that God befriended you”. Abraham, in our first reading, addresses himself to his Lord, and talks to Him as to a friend. His prayer is not a succession of formulas, repeated over and over again by heart; it is not words flowing out his mouth while his heart and mind are somewhere else; it is a sincere and straightforward dialogue. Abraham was “negotiating” with God, a Compassionate and Merciful Father, interceding for the sake of Sodom. Even if Abraham is asking God to give up his plan of destruction of Sodom there is actually intimacy and communion of love between him and God. Prayer is a “rendezvous” of love with God. To pray, it’s to think of God loving Him. Prayer is not necessary linked with the fact of asking. Prayer is not only a simple request of favours. It’s first and foremost a gratuitous approach, a deep relationship that believers have with God when they open up their heart and mind to Him. To pray is simply be present to God and for God.
We can live without intimacy with Him. That’s why prayer is necessary and has his importance. St Martin said: “Prayer is the breathing of the soul.” We all know how respiration is obviously indispensable for life. Just to mean that without prayer our soul is dead. It’s not only good and necessary to pray but what do we pray for?
What do we pray for?
Why do we pray? Most often because we are in need; we have problems, we are in difficult situations. And what do we pray for? It’s to ask for solutions, for favours and help. We pray for quick recovery of the sick, for success in exams, to getting a good job, for justice and peace during crisis, for reconciliation in divided families, for protection, for journey mercies and so on… We are right! Because Jesus Himself said in our gospel: “Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Lk 11: 9). On the strength of these words of Jesus, a lot of Christians have asked, have sought, and have knocked, but all in vain. They did not receive what they prayed for. And now, afraid to be disappointed once more, they have abandoned the prayer of petitions, maybe secretly convinced that Jesus does not keep his promises. Yet, can we accuse Jesus for that? He says, “Ask and you will receive.” But he does not specify that we will receive precisely what we ask for. He just says, “Ask and you will receive.” You will receive what you ask for? Sometimes, but not always. What you ask for might not be good for you, or might harm somebody else, or might prevent you from growing as a person. In that case, out of love for you, God will not give you what you ask for. Yet, He will always give something better than what you ask for.
When we address God to ask Him something, it is never to obtain some privilege or a discount on the life’s difficulties. Prayer is not an attempt to convince God to modify his plans on us. We never ask God to change his will, but to let us understand it, so as to make it our own, and to give us the force and courage to do it. In our prayer of petitions, let us seek for the right intention: what is good for God and for us Let us surrender all to the sacred will of God. Because His will is the best, not ours.
Let us pray especially so that the Name of God may be held holy. His name is glorified when His salvation reaches man. Hallowed be the Name of God because hearts are freed of all hatred and wickedness and when sinner is converted.
Let us also pray for the coming of the Kingdom of God. All the prayers of the Christians express the wish of seeing the accomplishment of the plan of God. We should put all our energies at the service of God so that his Kingdom of justice, love and peace may be a concrete reality. It is not enough to pray and to know what to pray for, one must also know how to pray.
How do we pray?
In the last part of the gospel, Jesus assures us that prayer is always effective. Christian prayer is always granted says Jesus. But is this really our experience? No. Why? Because we do not know how to pray properly. In the gospel, Jesus tells us a parable of a man who goes to a friend and insists on having three loaves of bread. Jesus, through this parable of the importunate friend, teaches us that we should pray with trusting faith. When we pray, we must have faith that God will answer us. We must believe that God is able to do what we are asking. We must also believe that he is willing to do it for us. “Ask and it will be given to you…. For the one who asks receives” says Jesus. That is why we can and we must pray with trusting faith.
Our prayer should also be insistent, constant, perseverant and patient without giving up. God is absolutely sovereign. He does not take orders from us. He will do what we ask for in prayer in his own time, not our time. God’s time is the best. Sometimes we pray asking everything and immediately. God is not our slave. Many of us have lost the attribute of constancy, perseverance and patience in prayer. If something we want fail to materialise at the time we expect it, we give up. We stop trying. We doubt the love and the power of God. When we pray, let us always try again and never give up. It is we who must wait on the Lord and not the other round. We cannot give God any deadlines to do what we want.
May the Lord grant us the taste of prayer; may we learn how to pray properly in order to cultivate our intimacy with God and above all to do His will.
Fr Emile Kouma, sm