Fr. Don's Daily Reflection - November 25, 2024
Photo by Cathy Lampert
Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from You.”
Jim, in his mid-50s, suffers from terminal cancer and is receiving chemo. A friend from the same Communist-ruled country, a convert to Catholic Christianity, suggests that he pray. Jim says: "I do not believe in that." An atheistic background could explain that or the dying person might object to prayer if we regard it as magic: zap, you get what you ask for, simple as that.
In Luke's Gospel (11:5-13), the literal words of Jesus come close to that. "Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives, etc.” An explanation is needed.
Even without long-term experience of prayer, when making a request in prayer, we have to allow God freedom to respond as God will; we are not equipped to dictate the response. Only enough regular practice of prayer will convince us of this.
We can, of course, pray for a specific outcome but why not make that conditional? God may have other outcomes “in mind”. The words of Jesus quoted above point to that in extravagant language: steadfast prayer is effective. Only by persistent effort and regular practice do we come to know what prayer can do. It’s not magic; it is often something much more life-changing and effective in the long run which escapes our limited vision.
The great Danish Lutheran Soren Kierkegaard says it well: “Prayer does not change God, but changes him (her) who prays”. Knowing our differences and our so-varied circumstances, change in any one of us can mean many differing outcomes. The scope of God’s responses is extremely varied. The ‘result’ of prayer can be a change in our attitude towards what we were praying for; more trust in God; more gentleness with others; more acceptance of our life; less whining; more love within a family, more gratitude, etc.
Psalm 27: “I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness / in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord; be strong; / be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!”
