Sunday after Ascension 4.5.08 Praying in depth
The Church is watching and waiting, as we re-live the time of the Jerusalem cenacle.
Not just this time of year, but all the time the Church prays for help from God to deal with all the crises we face, and to be able to do the good things He asks of us.
The apostles at Pentecost had to pray only for nine days for the fulfilment they needed; most of the time we have to pray a lot longer than that, and we can become discouraged.
How long, O Lord? Why do You sleep, O Lord? (typical passage from the Psalms).
Not to be discouraged is itself something to pray for. It is itself one of the fruits of the Holy Ghost (longsuffering, perseverance).
We must never give up praying. That so many have given up is part of our present problem. We are like an army with five thousand soldiers suddenly whittled down to one thousand.
Each of us has to resolve to stand firm: If I am the last person left in Australia still praying, I will continue. This is how we develop the toughness we need.
The waiting is good for us, because it forces us to become stronger.
Having resolved to stay, how should we pray, or what should we ask for?
It is likely that we do not yet ask enough. Provided our requests are not frivolous we should be asking for the whole world, asking what God Himself wants, the salvation of every person, the complete renewal of the face of the earth.
Maybe we stop short of asking for certain things because we do not see how they could happen; we cannot imagine such things becoming reality. So we do not seriously ask for them.
Yet the Scriptures constantly prophesy widespread renewal of faith, especially in the prophecies of Isaiah.... the nations will come streaming towards Jerusalem as the summit of all that is good (a clear reference to the Church, the new Jerusalem).
We must pitch our hopes high when we pray.
It would be a mistake to pray only for what we can visualize as likely. This would be to confuse our own limited faith with the power of God Himself.
It would be a mistake to pray only for our own needs.
We have to take a larger vision, see the ecclesial reality.
Praying only for our own needs is like seeking a comfortable room on the Titanic. We might have everything we need for a short time, but the whole system in which we live is collapsing around us.
Praying for the Church is praying for the whole life system which we need to survive.
What we can learn from the personal is the need to pray urgently.
When we have a really pressing personal need we are inclined to pray much more fervently, while that need lasts.
So, when we come to pray for the larger reality of the Church, we need the same fervour, because the need is just as great.
When we sense this need we are moved to a deeper prayer; we ask for more.
This is why we ask the Holy Spirit to come. He will come and make all things right. He will set straight the doctrinal errors, the liturgical abuses, the divisions and enmity within the Body of Christ.
He will change the bad into good, and the good into better. He will reclaim the lost and put new strength into the faithful.
Come, Holy Spirit and renew the face of the earth!
