4th Sunday after Epiphany 28.1.07 Prayer

When the apostles woke Our Lord as He slept they were engaged in an act of prayer. Save us, Lord, we are going down. Straight to the point! Prayers in emergencies tend to be very short and very sincere.

‘Get me out of this, Lord, and I’ll be good for a month’ etc

Yet they were rebuked by the Lord. There was something wrong with their prayer. It lacked real trust in Him. They were panicking when they should have remained serene.

So they received one more lesson in prayer on that occasion. Our Lord was constantly teaching His disciples about prayer. May He teach us something today.

Lord, teach us how to pray.

Prayer presents certain difficulties for us. We often do not feel much like praying. It can seem like a chore or a task that has to be done, like washing the dishes.

We would rather be outside playing, or inside watching television, or a dozen other activities, but not many people would regard prayer as one of their favourite things.

Prayer sometimes brings emotional uplift but often not not. We don’t always feel better after praying; we don’t always see much result to the prayer.

The world seems much the same whether we pray or not, so we can become discouraged and pray less (this is why many no longer pray, even though they were brought up on it.)

Also prayer is an open-ended reality. There is no clear end point. If I have another task, like washing the dishes, I know when I am finished, but with prayer there is always more that could be done.

Because of the lack of emotional stimulation and the lack of clear results, we tend to measure off our prayer on the lighter side, and pray less rather than more.

This is not a good idea. Prayer is not a task; it is communion with one we love and who loves us.

Romeo did not regard time with Juliet as a chore. He would have liked more time. This is how we should be with God. It is a meeting of lovers.

And think of all the things we pray for. What is enough?

We could take any one aspect of prayer, eg asking for mercy, and if we did that every second of our lives, it still would not exhaust the need for mercy.

Or the praise of God. If we did that every second of our lives there would still be more to be said in praise of God’s infinite glory.

Always more prayer is possible and always more prayer is better than less.

Two Hail Marys are better than one (presuming always sincerity in the one praying).

The more Masses the better; the more people at Mass the better. We want to establish a chorus of non-stop prayer. Praising, Thanking, Interceding, Asking for mercy.

The whole Church prays around the clock, but we can still do a lot more and a lot better.

Because it is not a chore this is not something that should alarm us. Prayer will reveal to us its own delights. If we are not ready just yet to see prayer as exciting and rewarding it will become more obvious as we go.

God makes Himself known to those who seek Him (remember the wise men).

And then we do not count the prayers like getting through some task. It is a communion of love. Time stands still when we pray.

The apostles were rebuked because their prayer was from shallow roots. They had not established a communion of love and trust with Our Lord. This is what we need to do.

We don’t pray just when the brakes fail or the boat starts to sink. We pray all the time, so that when a crisis emerges it is just a matter of gently turning to the Lord and He will help us deal with it. Son, they have no wine…