20150226 OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD IS MANIFESTED IN THE WAY WE
PRAY
Readings at Mass
|
First reading
|
Esther 4:17 ©
|
Queen Esther took
refuge with the Lord in the mortal peril which had overtaken her. She besought
the Lord God of Israel in these words:
‘My Lord, our King,
the only one,
come to my help, for
I am alone
and have no helper
but you
and am about to take
my life in my hands.
‘I have been taught
from my earliest years, in the bosom of my family,
that you, Lord, chose
Israel out of all the
nations
and our ancestors out
of all the people of old times
to be your heritage
for ever;
and that you have
treated them as you promised.
‘Remember, Lord;
reveal yourself
in the time of our
distress.
‘As for me, give me
courage,
King of gods and
master of all power.
Put persuasive words
into my mouth
when I face the lion;
change his feeling
into hatred for our enemy,
that the latter and
all like him may be brought to their end.
‘As for ourselves,
save us by your hand,
and come to my help,
for I am alone
and have no one but
you, Lord.’
|
Psalm
|
|
Psalm
137:1-3,7-8 ©
|
On the day I
called, you answered me, O Lord.
I thank you, Lord,
with all my heart:
you have
heard the words of my mouth.
In the presence of
the angels I will bless you.
I will
adore before your holy temple.
On the day I
called, you answered me, O Lord.
I thank you for your
faithfulness and love,
which
excel all we ever knew of you.
On the day I called,
you answered;
you
increased the strength of my soul.
On the day I
called, you answered me, O Lord.
You stretch out your
hand and save me,
your hand
will do all things for me.
Your love, O Lord, is
eternal,
discard
not the work of your hands.
On the day I
called, you answered me, O Lord.
|
Gospel Acclamation
|
Joel2:12-13
|
Glory to you, O
Christ, you are the Word of God!
Now, now – it is
the Lord who speaks –
come back to me with
all your heart,
for I am all
tenderness and compassion.
Glory to you, O
Christ, you are the Word of God!
|
Or
|
Ps50:12,14
|
Glory to you, O
Christ, you are the Word of God!
A pure heart create
for me, O God,
and give me again the
joy of your help.
Glory to you, O
Christ, you are the Word of God!
|
Gospel
|
Matthew 7:7-12 ©
|
Jesus said to his
disciples, ‘Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock,
and the door will be opened to you. For the one who asks always receives; the
one who searches always finds; the one who knocks will always have the door
opened to him. Is there a man among you who would hand his son a stone when he
asked for bread? Or would hand him a snake when he asked for a fish? If you,
then, who are evil, know how to give your children what is good, how much more
will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
‘So
always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that is the meaning of
the Law and the Prophets.’
OUR
RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD IS MANIFESTED IN THE WAY WE PRAY
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: Est 4:17; Ps: 138: 1-2ab, 2cde-3, 7c-8; Mt 7:7-12
Prayer,
along with fasting and almsgiving, is part of the Lenten program. It is
meant to increase our desire for God. Prayer is not what we say to God
but what God says to us. Within this context prayer, even petitionary
prayer, is part of the whole process of growing in grace and in knowledge of
God. In fact, having our prayer answered is not as important as what our
prayer throws on our knowledge of God and of self.
Take
for instance the unanswered prayer. In the gospel Jesus teaches that God
answers all prayers. He said, “Ask, and it will be given to you;
search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For
the one who asks always receives; the one who searches always finds; the one
who knocks will always have the door opened to him.” But does this
promise of Jesus hold true in every case? Isn’t it true that sometimes we
feel that our prayers are not answered or that God does not even listen to our
prayer?
What is
the implication for doubting that our prayers would be answered? The more
serious truth is that it speaks of the degree of our relationship with the
Lord. When we feel that our prayers are not answered, it implies that
we do not know whom we are praying to. We do not believe in our hearts
that God is our Father and that we are His children. By not having faith
that God will listen to our prayer, not only do we not know God but we also do
not know who we are and what our own worth is. So when we pray without
faith, we are simply saying indirectly that we do not believe that God is truly
our Father or that He is powerful enough to grant what we need in life.
We doubt His wisdom and power.
As a
result of forgetting our identity as the children of God, we pray for the
wrong things in life, going against the will of God. Indeed, St.
Augustine says that our prayer is not heard because we pray badly on account of
the fact that we are evil, and our personal dispositions are not right.
Isn’t this what Jesus says of us? We ask for things that are not good for us,
things that can harm us. Not conscious of our identity, we become
ignorant of what we should be asking. So instead of asking for bread, we
ask for a stone; and instead of asking for a fish, we ask for a snake. Of
course, as
Jesus
said, “Is there a man among you who would hand his son a stone when he asked
for bread? Or would hand him a snake when he asked for a fish?” If we
would not grant such a request from our children, would God the Father, who
loves us, grant us those things that contradict our identity and happiness?
Hence, Jesus remarked, “If you, then, who are evil, know how to give your
children what is good, how much more will your Father in heaven give good
things to those who ask him!” In the final analysis, ineffective prayer
is always not a true prayer.
Lent is
an invitation to a deeper relationship with God. It is a
relationship of mutual love, mutual knowledge and mutual willing. Today,
the liturgy invites us to imitate Queen Esther who took refuge with the
Lord. She exemplifies what Jesus taught and promised about prayer.
She is the model of a pray-er. She begins her prayer by acknowledging
God’s majesty and supremacy. She prayed thus, “My Lord, our King, the
only one, come to my help, for I am alone and have no helper but you … King of
Gods and master of all power.” She could pray confidently in this manner
only because she knew that God knows all things and is aware of her needs, even
without her telling Him.
Furthermore,
Esther knew her identity and who she was. She knew that she and
her people were the chosen race. She said, “I have been taught from my
earliest years, in the bosom of my family, that you, Lord, chose Israel out of
all the nations and our ancestors out of all the people of old times to be your
heritage for ever; and that you have treated them as you promised.” Yes,
she was confident that God would always be faithful to Israel.
The way
she prayed reflects more about her and her relationship with God than about her
prayer request. She did not place any conditions on God. Indeed, true
prayer allows God to accomplish His work and grace in and within us.
For this reason, we must pray with confidence, asking for the great things.
Truly, only when we ask for the great things, will the little things also be
given to us. Jesus elsewhere in the gospel urged us to seek not only for
the kingdom but the Holy Spirit so that all these other things will be given to
us. For if God could give us His kingdom, that is, Himself in the Holy
Spirit, what other things would He refuse to give to us. Indeed, Jesus
said, “your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”
Within
this context, the golden rule that Jesus gave to His disciples at the
end of the gospel makes sense when He said, “So always treat others as you
would like them to treat you; that is the meaning of the Law and the
Prophets.” If we do not understand this rule within the context of prayer
and relationship, then it becomes a selfish rule implying that “I give you
something so that you will give me something.” On the contrary, what the
rule is saying is that if we have a right perspective and relationship towards
God and people, then we will treat them accordingly in the right manner, which
can be truly life-giving. It is therefore a call to relationship.
Yes,
today we are called to develop this relationship by asking, knocking and
seeking. To ask indicates our humility to find out more about Jesus
so that we can relate with Him more deeply. This is why we study about
Jesus in scripture and theology, always asking questions for a deeper
understanding of Jesus and who He is to us and who we are to Him.
Secondly, we are called to knock. The door that we are called to knock is
not the door of Christ but the door of our hearts. There is no need to
storm heaven, but we need to storm our hearts. If our hearts are sinful,
we cannot be open to love and forgiveness. We need to open our hearts to
Christ who wants to touch us and reach out to us. We must knock at the
door of our hearts so that we can open it for Christ. Finally, we are
called to seek. Seeking expresses our sincere desire for truth, for life
and for love. So we must pray that our hearts will always thirst for God
and that we will seek Him always.
If we take
heed of the words of Jesus to ask, we will certainly come to know Jesus;
knock and our doors will be open for Jesus to come and live in us; seek and the
life of God is ours, the life of the kingdom. In this way, the liturgy
gives us the focus and the path to find the fullness of life as we prepare ourselves
for Easter during this Lenten period.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV
WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP
OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No comments:
Post a Comment