Make/Take Time for Quiet Prayer with Jesus
5th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Yr B
Growing up with Mary and Joseph, Jesus surely prayed with them. In Jewish society, it was customary for families to pray together. In fact, the daily life of the Jewish people was imbued with prayer. Once He began his active ministry, Jesus also made sure to take time to be alone with God.
In our contemporary society, life is busy and more active than ever; in fact, life is frenetic. According to modern values, a person has worth only insofar as he does a lot of things. Therefore, many of us are as if programmed to be always busy: going here and there, looking for the best discount, searching for a new job, surfing the internet, listening to the TV, socializing, or working overtime. While these things are good, and while God is present in our activities, it is still very important to take time to be alone with God—to return to Him, Who is the source of our lives—in silence and prayer.
When we seek time to be alone with God, this helps us to open our minds and our hearts to listen to God’s voice. When we are in the silence, it is easier for us to perceive God’s gentle presence, to discern His action in our lives, and to be guided by the Holy Spirit. When we get together with our best friends, we do not sit and have a conversation while the television is blaring noise and lots of things are going on. Typically, we meet at a place that allows us to listen and to talk, such as a coffee shop, restaurant, a man cave, or a quiet home. We go somewhere where we can hear, listen, share, and communicate. Jesus is our best Friend. And if we really wish to have a relationship with Him, then we must seek to be alone with Him in silence through prayer.
In our busy lives, we need strength, perseverance, and help to cope with all of the things that take place, and God always ready to bestow each of these on us through prayer. Many of you have children or grandchildren, so you cannot spend a lot of time away from the home in quiet prayer. For God, the most important thing is that you do seek to spend time with Him in the silence, even if it means only 15 quiet minutes in your bedroom. The most important thing is not necessarily the amount of time that you pray, but rather your desire to be with Jesus, to be filled with His Love.
I would like to encourage you to take time to reflect on what you do in your life and how you do it. I would also like to invite you to take some time to be with Jesus in prayer every day, so that He can guide your contact with Him and with others according to His holy will.
Yours in Christ,
Father Arthur
Readings for the Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time: Lectionary 74
Tags: #focus, #frarthurmarat, #listen, #olw, #olwparish, #pastorsletter, #reflection
Comments are closed here.