Wednesday of
the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
By Colleen O’Sullivan
Brothers and sisters:
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. And the one who searches
hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the
holy ones according to God’s will. (Romans
8:26-27)
Jesus passed through towns and villages, teaching as he
went and making his way to Jerusalem.
Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” He answered them, “Strive to enter through
the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be
strong enough. (Luke 13:22-24)
Piety
Give ear to my words, O
Lord; understand my sighing. Attend to the sound of my
cry, my king and my God! For to you I will pray,
Lord. (Psalm 5:2-3)
Study
Prayer
is the time when I turn away from the phone, emails, texts, TV, radio –all the
noise in my life; the time I spend with Jesus, whispering things I would never
tell another soul; the time I spend listening to Jesus telling me things no one
else would ever say to me.
St.
Paul writes to the Romans of prayer as the expression of the groaning of all
creation and the groaning that emanates from deep within each of us. Prayer involves listening to the sounds
uttered by the world around us, the sighs and cries of our brothers and
sisters, and to what issues forth from the depths of our own hearts; then
giving voice to all of it. But we are
sometimes deaf and often inarticulate. We
don’t always know what to say or how to say it.
The apostle goes on to speak a word of hope to our weakness. Praying isn’t all up to us. The Spirit, who dwells within us, is always
at work, offering our intentions to the Lord.
And Christ, in turn, offers them to his Father.
Action
Our
Gospel reading for today is a good starting point for prayer. It is surely the heartfelt desire of each of
us to enter through the narrow gate, to be with Christ for all eternity. Yet, in the depths of my being is the fear
that I may never recognize all the baggage I carry that prevents me from fitting
through. I entrust that desire and fear
to the Spirit, who will carry it to Christ in words I cannot understand. I pray I will have ears to hear the response.
What
does this Gospel reading about narrow gates and locked doors say to you? How does it lead you to pray?
No comments:
Post a Comment