In prayer, let God speak to you

Welcome to my blog.

God speaks to us each day through the readings from the Holy Bible. These are chosen under the inspiration of God’s Spirit and provided for us by the Church founded and lead by the Spirit of Jesus.

You will find them here. If we take time daily to read, understand and in silence to pray from our heart, Jesus, through his Spirit, will nourish us and our life will be transformed.

Let us ask ourselves: what is God saying to me today through these readings?

May the Spirit of God be with you.

Thursday 18 June 2020

In prayer, let God speak to you

 Ps 26: 7, 9

O Lord, hear my voice, for I have called to you; be my help.

Do not abandon or forsake me, O God, my Saviour!

Prayer

Father, strength of those who hope in you,

graciously hear our prayers,

and, since without you, we can do nothing,

grant us always the help of your grace.

May we always follow your commands

and so please you by our resolve and our deeds.

We make our prayer through your Son,

Christ Jesus our Lord.

First reading

Sirach 48:1-14

Elijah was enveloped in a whirlwind, and Elisha was filled with the twofold portion of his spirit.

Like a fire there appeared the prophet Elijah

whose words were as a flaming furnace.

Their staff of bread he shattered,

in his zeal he reduced them to straits;

By the Lord’s word he shut up the heavens

and three times brought down fire.

How awesome are you, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds!

Whose glory is equal to yours?

You brought a dead man back to life

from the nether world, by the will of the Lord.

You sent kings down to destruction,

and easily broke their power into pieces.

You brought down nobles, from their beds of sickness.

You heard threats at Sinai,

at Horeb avenging judgments.

You anointed kings who should inflict vengeance,

and a prophet as your successor.

You were taken aloft in a whirlwind of fire,

in a chariot with fiery horses.

You were destined, it is written, in time to come

to put an end to wrath before the day of the Lord,

To turn back the hearts of fathers toward their sons,

and to re-establish the tribes of Jacob.

Blessed is he who shall have seen you

And who falls asleep in your friendship.

For we live only in our life,

but after death our name will not be such.

O Elijah, enveloped in the whirlwind!

Then Elisha, filled with the twofold portion of his spirit,

wrought many marvels by his mere word.

During his lifetime he feared no one,

nor was any man able to intimidate his will.

Nothing was beyond his power;

beneath him flesh was brought back into life.

In life he performed wonders,

and after death, marvellous deeds. THE WORD OF THE LORD

Prayerful reflection

What are the characteristics of Elijah and Elisha? They are models for us. Not in what they did, but in what they were. It wasn’t they who did anything. They were just ordinary human beings – James. They believed in God. It wasn’t just a notional belief, a cheap kind of belief – oh, yes God exists. This kind of cheap belief is like imitation jewellery. May look good but is of no lasting value. It has no value in the market, cheap faith has no value in life, nor before God.

Real faith in God is when it strikes me between the eyes that God created th universe and me out of nothing, that it is no more than a speck of dust before him, that I am totally dependent on him. Then I must live for him only, do his will only, in deep gratitude for everything he has done and is doing, worship him only. Real faith transforms me and so my life. this is the kind of faith Elijah and Elisha had.

It is not a feeling, an emotional excitement. It is a deep conviction leading to a profound decision. Knowing my weakness, it leads me into prayer each day, lest I be deceived by the illusion of wealth, power, prestige, pleasure of mind and body.

This real faith allows God to use me in his own way, in his world so that I am transformed, as dead wires are transformed in the channels of power by electricity.

Is God real for you? Do you live in God? Do you move in God? Do you have your being in God? (Acts 17:28). Does God act through you? We are to open ourselves to him like Elijah and Elisha.

Psalm

Psalm 97:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7

Rejoice in the Lord, you just!

The Lord is king; let the earth rejoice;

let the many isles be glad.

Clouds and darkness are round about him,

justice and judgment are the foundation of his throne.

Rejoice in the Lord, you just!

Fire goes before him

and consumes his foes round about.

His lightnings illumine the world;

the earth sees and trembles.

Rejoice in the Lord, you just!

The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,

before the Lord of all the earth.

The heavens proclaim his justice,

and all peoples see his glory.

Rejoice in the Lord, you just!

All who worship graven things are put to shame,

who glory in the things of nought;

all gods are prostrate before him.

Rejoice in the Lord, you just!

____________________

Romans 8:15bc

Alleluia, alleluia.

You have received a spirit of adoption as sons

through which we cry: Abba! Father!

Alleluia, alleluia.

____________________

Gospel

Matthew 6:7-15

This is how you are to pray.

Jesus said to his disciples: “In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

“This is how you are to pray:

‘Our Father who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name,

thy Kingdom come,

thy will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread;

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us;

and lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.’

“If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.” THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD

Prayerful reflection

Do not babble, when you pray. We have different kinds of relationships, with different kinds of people. There are those with whom we are very close, through our mutual love. We may live with someone with whom we share deep mutual love. We are not always speaking to them. We are at peace, simply if they are there. They may be busy doing what interests them. We may not be consciously aware of them, but in some way we are aware that they are there and well. So, we have peace. Our relationship with the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit is like that. We live in them, though we may be driving, working in the garden or whatever. We know they are with us and we with them. We are at peace.

But in our human relationships, there are times when we talk to one another. Not all talking is the same. We may ask where something is and when they tell us we get on with our work, grateful that they have told us. But with those we deeply love, there are times and they should be frequent and regular, when we both speak to one another from our hearts. Then we tell each other how we feel about them, how much they mean to us.  We can never hear enough how much someone really loves us. When this is mutual and mutually expressed the relationship grows stronger every day.

Prayer is such a conversation. The Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit love us, more than we know or even can imagine (Ephesians 3:19). We love them too. Our love needs to grow daily. Since the Father and Holy Spirit are pure spirits, it is difficult for us to talk to them. So, the Son of God, one true God, became a human being and lived among us and like us. We can easily approach him because he is one of us, like anyone else. Through him we enter into God.

Through Jesus we pray. Prayer is nothing, if it is not a loving conversation, in which we speak from our heart. Prayer is the time when we express ourselves to, Father, Jesus or Holy Spirit, or to all Three. We pray to Jesus (he is God), with Jesus (Jesus prayed when on earth and intercedes for us now) and we pray through Jesus (He is our mediator).

Today he gives us a model for the perfect prayer from the heart. We speak to God -  at times with the Father, at other times with the Son, Jesus, and again at other times with the Holy Spirit. At all times this is our model for our conversation. Don’t let’s pray as we like.

Don’t use it to babble to God. When we speak, let us speak from deep in our heart. Do you pray always from your heart? Prayer is a conversation. Did you ever hear Jesus speak to you from his heart? When you do prayer becomes the joy of your life.

Ps 26: 4

There is one thing I ask of the Lord, only this do I seek:

to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

Prayer

Father, from the beginning you entrusted

your Word to your Church. Grant that we may

always listen to your Church and so be one

in our understanding of the Scriptures.

We make our prayer through your Son,

Christ Jesus our Lord.