Honesty in Prayer

Honesty in Prayer

As if prayer could be anything but honest…however I am certain I am not the only one who has been foolish enough to think that I could withhold something from Christ. If I don’t bring it up, perhaps we can just skip that part of my life, while I pray on these other matters.

What do we withhold from Christ? In our pride, we may withhold praying for those who hurt us; failing to forgive someone. How do we expect that Christ will answer our prayer before we have truly humbled ourselves and forgiven those who have hurt us?

This is the key; it is once we have humbled ourselves that we can be truly honest in our prayer.

Remember, Christ already knows our thoughts, our words, and our actions. Most importantly He knows our hearts, if we want to truly be close to Him we have to first of all, guard our words and our thoughts, change our hearts, and act always in a spirit of charity, which is love in action.

This calls to mind a story I regularly share with my boys, written by L.J. Sattgast. A story about a boy who is working with his Grandpa in the garden, the boy plants seeds on ground that is filled with rocks. Of course, the flowers do not grow, no matter how much he waters them. So his Grandpa assists him to remove the rocks. In a few days, the garden begins to form with healthy plants & flowers. In the same way, we must remove rocks in our hearts. We form rocks in our hearts when we allow pride to set in, when we don’t’ forgive others, when we judge others, when we are not sincere with Christ.

St. Teresa of Avila said it best “ Pride is when we compare ourselves to others, humility is when we compare ourselves to God” Let us pray that we see ourselves as God does, that we be continually humbled by His presence and His unfailing love for us. Pray that we will treat pride as the poison that is to our souls, that we will continually strive to be rid of pride. Keep our sinfulness always before us Lord, that we may not fall into pride, that we will always approach You with a humble and sincere heart, in order that You may work through our flawed humanity to bring others to know Your love and mercy. Amen

Image: St. Theresa of Avila (1515-82) 1570 by Juan de la Miseria

Meditation on God's Love

Originally written: November 3, 2007

Luke 14: 1,7-11

It is not loving myself that will strengthen the mission Christ has entrusted to me. If I invoke God’s love everyday – that love will flow from me. God’s love is for me to give and not for me to keep. It should be overflowing, outpouring of love to everyone I meet. In loving others I will exult others and humble myself. I must constantly remember that. God’s love is to give to others.

As I love others it will drive me to act and as I shower others with love, I do not lose God’s love. God’s loves edures forever and flows continuously. The more love I have for others, God will continue to shower His love on me. That is why love is the greatest of all things. The power of love is never ceasing. I want to feel this way. To love God above all things. To feel God’s love and to give this love to others.

As I meditate daily on Chirst’s love at the foot of the cross and in his ministry – I see the love he continually shows to His friends, followers and to sinners. I must continuously acknowledge that God loves me this way too. He died for me, he loves me with all my sins, failures and errors. So too, I am called to love others despite their sins, failures and errors.

I Lift It Up To You

Originally written April 2, 2007

It brings me so much sadness
To see so much suffering
They wander the world so aimless
Don't they know You died for them?

My heart is so heavy,
I lift it up to You, Lord
How do I bring your love to them?

As the tears fill my eyes
I know only You can console me
I hear You say these words to me
"It's not your burden to carry, lift it up to Me"
So I lift it up to You,
And I will bring Your love to them.

Shower me with Your precious blood
That the world may see Your love
That I may bring Your love to them

You lift my heavy heart
Take away this pain
Make the sadness fade away

It brings joy, just to know You
Only You can console this heavy heart of mine
It's not my burden to carry, so I lift it up to You.

God's Will Be Done

I know it has been awhile since I have posted. There is no good excuse really, just been a little side tracked. However, something has weighed heavy on my heart these passed few days, that I have been compelled to write about.

Most of my blog readers are aware that I have been dealing with some physical issues that have been causing me, great discomfort and pain to my neck & back. To date there isn’t any major cause for alarm, though I am undergoing more tests to determine the cause of the pain. I share this here only because it relates to the topic of my post.

Over one year ago, I was struggling to forgive someone who seemed to constantly do things that were very hurtful. I took it to prayer and asked Christ to teach me how I was supposed to not only forgive, but continue to love this person? Christ used my neck pain to remind me that He himself is the greatest example of this by forgiving and loving those who hurt him. I could picture him carrying his cross, and falling down, but continually getting back up to continue the mission He came to fulfill. I found myself asking, “Why?” I realized, the only way to complete his mission, was to get up and move forward. He loves us so much; he wants to give each of us the opportunity to spend eternity with Him and the only way to do this is to be obedient to the Father, who is Love. So he gets up again, and again.

Recently, I had another realization. Many things are unclear as far as the test results, and I have experienced complications with physiotherapy, which have caused more questions. The other day, as I was reciting the Angelus at noon hour, the words of our Blessed Mother that I recite everyday, suddenly struck me as if it were the first time I said them. “Let it be done to me according to your word” For the first time, I made these words my own, and repeated them a few times.

I was reminded also, that with Holy Week coming up, I can also reflect once again on Christ’s example of suffering. For Christ also made a similar prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Mathew 26:42 “If this cup cannot pass from me, your will, not mine, be done”. He did not come to take away suffering, but to give it meaning.

As much as I pray for the pain to go away, I have now been able to put this in God’s hands. Reassured that he loves me and knows what is best for me. Whatever lessons I must learn from this suffering, I will wait and pray that I recognize the lessons. I will continue to offer up my suffering to make up for my own sinfulness and for the sins of the whole world. In this way, I share in Christ’s mission. Holy Thursday will take on whole new meaning for me this year.

Will it take on new meaning for you? What form of suffering or uncertainties are you facing? Will you join me in meeting Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane and surrender to His will?

Image: The Passion of Christ movie - 2004