BEING AND BECOMING PRAYERFUL (15)

BEING AND BECOMING PRAYERFUL (15)

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD.

(Psalm 46:10)

Be in your prayer space, follow the usual steps and settle into silence.

Sit still…..Relax…….Do not rush………

Take a couple of gentle, slow and deep breaths…becoming aware of your breath going in and out… stay focused on this breath of life……

Settle into silence, into peacefulness, into profound silence, into pure joy. Keep listening in such quietness and serenity. Come to that place, that space within, that place of deep silence and Solitude; to just being here and now without having to accomplish something.

Now I invite you to consecrate this day and all that come with this day….in your own way, in humble, simple, may be even inadequate words………..

Thank you for the gift of another day……..

Thank you for silence, stillness, solitude……………

Thank you for blessing and grace………

Thank you for just being, for me, God

Now from the depth of your heart begin to wish your mind well…..

Take a few deep breaths right now…slow and gentle!

Breathe in God’s Way and breathe out my way – God’s way in, My way out.

You may not be happy about it right now, but in the bigger picture of life, you’ll be glad you chose to surrender to God.

Pray from your heart……

O God, this morning I have come into the quietness and stillness of your presence, to begin the day, so that out of this moment, I may take with me a quiet serenity, which will last me through the rough and smooth of this day’s life. Many hours of the day are waiting to be filled a hundred ways with a hundred prayers. But, right now, at this very moment, I am at peace. You have blessed and Graced my day. I walk with you, God. I sit with you, God. I run with you, God. Thank you for the morning…Thank you for stillness….Thank you for blessing and grace…..Thank you for peacefulness…..Thank you for just being, for me, God…..Thank you. Amen

Our last meditation was on the many thoughts and reflections on prayer which have been inspiring for each of us. We now bring our meditation on “Being and Becoming Prayerful” to a closer. We have reflected on various aspects of Prayerfulness and tried to cultivate a very dynamic, positive and creative attitude toward being prayerful. There is much more to reflect on nurturing Prayerfulness.

However, we must now bring our reflections to a closure and wait for another opportunity to reflect more deeply. Before we bring it to a closure, we take a moment to pray with Jesus as he prayed.

Jesus Prays for Himself (John 17:1-5)

“Jesus looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”

Jesus, first prayed for himself that he may glorify the Father, then for his chosen disciples and for all who will believe in him and his word that they may have eternal life. Jesus remained faithful to the mission that the father gave him and fulfilled that mission. He says that his disciples too have remained faithful to God’s word. He prayed to the father that he would keep his disciples faithful since they have to continue his mission in the world.

He describes eternal life as knowing the only true God and his son Jesus. To know is to become one with what is known and not a gathering of information or ideas or concepts. To know, in the sense used here, is to become intimate, to become one with, to enter into that which is known. In this sense, eternal life is to enter into the mystery of God’s life and love, to be “baptized”, to be immersed into God’s Life.

Take a moment, make the prayer of Jesus your prayer……pray for being more fully immersed into the eternal, into the mystery of God’s life and love…pray for grace and courage to be faithful in completing your mission in life………

Jesus Prays for His Disciples (John 17:6-19)

“I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.”

“All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you.

Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled”

“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.”

Jesus prayed for the safety and protection of his disciples. He knew that he was leaving them in the world. He knew that they didn’t belong to the world’s standards, that they had to live a different life style and that they would face difficult situations.

Be safe! Pray for those who are unsafe to be with and pray for those living in unsafe conditions! Pray for those who are exposed to difficult situations!

Jesus prayed that the disciples would be happy…to its fullness. He said to them that all said and did was to bring them joy to its fullness. Remember those who do not experience joy in life. Pray with those who are sad, lonely, depressed, unhappy…….

Jesus prayed that the disciples may be consecrated in truth. To “consecrate” means to empower a person with the necessary qualities of mind and heart and character to fulfill his/her God-given purpose in life.

Pray that you will be empowered with the necessary qualities of character to fulfill the mission God has given you!

Jesus Prays for All Believers (John 17:20-26)

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

Jesus, first, prayed for himself as he was preparing himself to face the cross. Then he prayed for his disciples and God’s power for them. Now his prayer takes a sweep into the distant future and into distant lands and prays for all who will believe.

His prayer was that all will be one – all will experience the kind of oneness that he experienced with the Father; that all will be one in the oneness of himself and the Father; that the world will believe that the Father sent him; that the unity of all will be complete; that all will have a vision of the gift of glory that comes from the Father’s love; that the Father’s love will live in all…….

The prayer of Jesus centers on abiding in him, in love, in unity, in harmony, in eternal glory – God living in us and we living in God. It is this unity, harmony, oneness that will convince the world of the truth of Christianity, the truth that Jesus came to proclaim and the place of Jesus in our life and the life of the world. Only the love that abides in the hearts of men and women can tear down the barriers that keep us apart and bring us into communion with God and one another.

God grant me,

The serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

Courage to change the things I can,

And the Wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;

Enjoying one moment at a time;

Accepting hardship as the pathway to peace.

Taking as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it;

Trusting that He will make all things right,

If I surrender to His will;

That I may be reasonably happy in this life,

And supremely happy in the next. (Reinhold Niebuhr)

Don’t ask God for what you think is good;

Ask Him for what He thinks is good for you.

The God to whom we pray is a God of love, who is more ready to answer than we are ready to pray. We do not have to force His Gifts and His Grace out of Him. We do not come to a God who has to be coaxed, or pestered, or battered into answering our prayer. We come to the ONE who simply wills to give. We, actually, come into the presence of the ONE who has already GIVEN. We come with desire in our hearts and words on our lips: “Thy will be done.”

GOD IS PERFECT AND PERFECT WISDOM.

WE DO NOT PRAY IN ORDER TO CHANGE HIS WILL,

BUT TO BRING OUR WILLS INTO HARMONY WITH HIS.

(William Temple)

Fr. Gus Tharappel,msfs