“You, O LORD, are good and forgiving, abounding in kindness to all who call upon you. Hearken, O LORD, to my prayer and attend to the sound of my pleading.” (Psalm 86:5-6)
The Lord always listens to our cries. He wants for us to call on him, to trust in his mercy and to know that we are never alone. In today’s second reading we are reminded that God gave us the Holy Spirit to be with us and to intercede for us. “The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings.” (Romans 8:26)
God doesn’t care so much how we pray, but he wants us to pray. Jesus’ life was an example of how we are to live and when we look at his life, we see that pray was central. He took everything to prayer and he often went to a deserted place to pray. When we are free from distractions we are able to be more receptive to God. When I was struggling with a particular issue, a friend told me to pray the rosary every day for 27 days for that particular intention and for the next 27 days to pray the rosary in thanksgiving for an answer to my prayer. I have never been one to pray novenas or to ask for intercession from the saints (this was not something I was ever exposed to growing up) so it was hard for me to remember to do it. There were a couple of days that I forgot and I know that forgetting to pray the rosary didn’t cause my prayer to not be answered. As the priest reminded us yesterday morning in his homily, we can’t manipulate God like that. I do know that setting aside the extra time in my daily prayer time to pray the rosary was a good thing for me. I also know that there has been healing in the area I have been praying about.
During my dedicated prayer time I begin by asking God to cleanse my heart of any worthless, evil or distracting thoughts and to give me the wisdom and love to pray with attention, reverence and devotion. This helps me to center myself. But throughout the day I also offer up prayers to God whether it is to give me patience when I am driving, steady hands when doing a procedure, compassion before entering a patient’s room at the hospital or words of thanksgiving for all the blessings he bestows on me. The Lord loves all of these prayers and he loves them most of all when I open up to him completely; pouring out my deepest fears, dark thoughts, desires and praise.
There will always be a longing in our hearts; perfection cannot be obtained here on earth because this is only a temporary place for us. Perfection in our love for God, in our relationship with him will only be obtained once we reside with him in heaven, our final destination. “Our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” (St. Augustine)
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