Some thoughts on Prayer

 





God is faithful and God can be trusted!   

Do you believe that?

St. Teresa of Jesus prayed:

“Let nothing trouble you/

Let nothing frighten you

Everything passes/

       God never changes

Patience/ Obtains all

Whoever has God/

       Wants for nothing

God alone is enough.”

Why pray?

I suggest the primary purpose of praying is to build and strengthen your relationship with God, so you can discover His will for your life and follow it. 

 In God’s season, we find our ultimate hope!  That is the land of the living.  de Sales taught us, “Do not look forward to the changes and chances of this life with fear; rather look upon them with strong hope that, as they arise, God, whose child you are, will deliver you from them.”

“Let nothing disturb you; Let nothing frighten you.  All things are passing.  God never changes.  Patience obtains all things.  Nothing is wanting to him who possesses God.  Go alone suffices.”  (St. Francis deSales)

I hope these insights help you to remember to pray for the grace to follow God’s will, not to change God’s mind,

or get God to do what you want; but to pray for the strength to accept that what comes your way comes from the hand of God.

Take each moment, each action and make it your gift to Our Lord Jesus.  To do this you need to base your prayer life on WISDOM:

1. knowledge of self

2. compassion for others                        

3. friendship with God

True JOY is found in being a disciple of Jesus Christ with all you heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.

Pope Francis reflected on Christian joy, he said it “… is a gift from God.”  The Pope likened this joy given by God to the joy of a mother embracing her baby after childbirth, because it is a joy “purified” by the suffering of labor.  The joy of the Christians … is a “joy in hope”.

St. Francis gives us this excellent Prayer:

“I shall never stop praying to God to perfect His work in you, that is, to further your excellent desire and plan to attain the fullness of Christian life, a desire which you should cherish and nurture tenderly in your heart; consider it a work of the Holy Spirit and a spark of His divine flame.”    [Letters of Spiritual Direction]

Joy is the natural reaction to the work of God.  Joy expresses God's kingdom a window into it on earth.

May God Be Praised!