Throughout the Scriptures we find our Lord going to secluded
places to pray. In the Gospel today, for example, after a long and arduous day
teaching the crowds, healing the sick, performing the miracle of the
multiplication of the loaves, seeing to the feeding of thousands of people,
Jesus climbed a mountain in order to pray in solitude. That living relationship
of prayer with the Father was an indispensable dimension of his life and
ministry, especially as he prepared to take up his cross.
The Lord’s own prayer is an example for all of us. As the
master has done, so must the disciple. We need prayer, every day, to refresh
us, and strengthen us, and guide us, in which we go to a quiet place, a quiet
room, the church or chapel, to focus our minds and hearts on God, in which we
lift up our needs and the needs of our families, and we allow God to speak to us.
Quiet solitude is often the place of divine encounter.
This point is illustrated in our first reading from the
first book of Kings: there was this loud earthquake, but God was not heard in
the loud earthquake, there was this loud booming fire, but God was not heard in the booming fire, there was
a strong driving wind, but God was not heard in the wind. Rather, it was in the
tiny whispering sound. God’s voice was
detected and heard in the quiet. The lesson here is that we must become quiet
in order to hear the voice of God. We are often deaf to the voice of God
because we have failed to become quiet enough to hear Him. He wants to speak quiet piercing words to our
hearts which help us to fall in love with Him; but if we have the television
going, the iphones going, the video games going all the time, we will not hear
him.
I’ve shared this before, that the Christian Philosopher
Svoren Kierkegaard went so far as to say that the constant busyness of the
modern world is a sort of disease. And If he were a doctor he would prescribe
as a remedy for this disease, “silence”. Silence has a healing effect because
it facilitates that divine encounter—with the source of healing and wisdom and
strength.
In the Gospel today, St. Peter began to sink, when he took
his focus off of the Lord. Peter had been given a command, “take courage, it is
I, do not be afraid.” Here Peter was instructed to focus not on his fears but
on Jesus. Similarly for us, we make intentional effort, to reorient our focus
the waves and storms of life to Jesus.
Silence from the noise of the world is important. But how
about silence from our fears and anxieties, from our anxious thoughts. So
often, we do not make the effort to silence ourselves from those—from anxious
worrying, from the replaying of past hurt, and anxious planning of future
possible scenarios. We replay the argument we had yesterday. We rehearse the
argument we might have tomorrow. We fret about our family members, our health,
our finances, and our work. We imagine conversations that have never happened
and disasters that may never happen. And before long, like St. Peter, we are
looking everywhere except at Jesus.
Now, the Lord is not telling us simply to pretend that our
problems do not exist. The wind around Peter was real. The waves were real. The
storm was real. But so was Jesus.
And Peter's great mistake was allowing the storm to become
more important in his mind than the Lord standing before him. That happens to
us as well. Anxiety takes something real—or something that might possibly
become real—and magnifies it until it fills the whole horizon. But, prayer puts
things in proper perspective. Prayer reminds us: this problem is real, but
God is greater. I do not know what tomorrow will bring, but God is already
there. And all things work for good, for those, who love God.
When anxious thoughts arise, we do not have to entertain
every one of them. Not every thought that enters our mind deserves our
attention and energy. Most of the time, we simply have to say: “Lord, I give
this to you.” Or use the prayer of Peter from today's Gospel: “Lord, save me.”
Or that beautiful simple prayer: “Jesus, I trust in you.”
That is one of the great purposes of prayer. Prayer is not
primarily an attempt to persuade God to arrange everything according to our
plans. Prayer is placing ourselves in His presence, focusing on Him, so that
our hearts become more aligned with His. Certainly, we bring Him our petitions.
Jesus Himself tells us to ask so that we may receive, knock, that the door
might be opened. But Christian prayer also says: “Father, here is what I
desire; here is what I fear; here is what I cannot control—and I place it into
your hands.” Prayer teaches the soul to surrender.
And that is why silence is so important. Kierkegaard
recognized that when our lives become filled with constant noise, stimulation, and
activity, our hearts and lives lose focus. Silence creates room for God. It
also conditions and trains us for those times in life when God is hardest to
detect.
We need prayer more than we need anything that is being
broadcast on television or the internet. Do you believe that? That you need
prayer? Sure, your biological life will not end if you cease praying, many
atheists and non-practicing Christians prove that. But when we fail to pray as
we should, we will NOT have what we need for the inevitable storms of life and or
to be the spouse, parent, teacher, evangelist, priest that God made us to be.
You need prayer—time every day when you stop consuming and
reacting and planning and worrying and social climbing, and allow God to renew
your heart.
St. John Vianney wrote, “When we pray with attention and
humility of mind and heart, we quit the earth and rise to Heaven. We reach the outstretched arms of God. We talk with the Angels and the Saints.”
August 11, Tuesday this week, is the feast of St. Clare our
parish patron. Her statues and stained glass windows so often depict her
holding the monstrance with the Blessed Sacrament—a reminder to us to make
extra effort to visit and pray before the Lord present in the Eucharist as we
can. If you can, visit our eucharistic chapel throughout the week, or come and
pray before the monstrance Wednesday mornings.
Time in prayer is never wasted. It is beneficial to the
soul, it provides strength to endure the storms of life and the assaults of the
devil. It provides light to detect God in the griefs and confusions of life and
the avenue to experience joy and delight in the Lord even in the dark valleys.
May we pray in imitation of Jesus himself in order to live rightly his
disciples for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.
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