The brothers James and John approach Jesus. They have thought long and hard about what they can ask of him. Their question is simple: They want to ask Jesus if they can be with him when he enters his kingdom in glory - one at his right and one at his left. With today’s Gospel, I thought of a book on prayer I am currently reading by Father Ron Rolheiser. In the preface to this book, Father Rolheiser speaks about how spirituality often gets drowned out in our modern world by our emphasis on the physical, on what we measure, see, taste, touch, and smell. When so many in our society center their lives on what is digitized, or what is on the screen of a TV or smartphone or computer, or on what material possessions we have or we can acquire, spirituality can get pushed aside so easily. When our lives are centered upon the physical realm or upon what we see on the surface, it is hard for us to focus our attention on faith, spirituality, and prayer. With that as a backdrop, we can see how James and John think of things is worldly terms: of who will have power and who will sit in the place of respect and honor. James and John view greatness and glory in the way our world values these things, not through the lens of faith and spirituality. It is important for us to talk about prayer today and about our relationship with Christ, because that is at the heart of our Gospel message today, about. There is so much all of us can learn exploring prayer together as people of faith, no matter where we are on our journey of faith.
So many of us, even those of us who are life-long Christians and who go to church on a regular basis and who are engaged in our faith in different ways may have some challenges and misconceptions in developing a relationship with God and in developing our life of prayer. We need to begin by saying that there is no one right way to pray and that there is no one starting point for our prayers. The most important thing about prayer is that we need to show up for prayer and we need to show up on a regular basis. Let us be honest: As Christians, we all want to make time for prayer in our lives. But we do not want to miss out on anything else in our busy lives, right? So, in making time for prayer and time for forging a relationship with God, discipline is important. Sometimes, when we do find time for prayer, we can be distracted, tired, unfocused, frustrated, and impatient. Too often, we have the false expectation that prayer needs to always be exciting, intense, and full of energy, but that is not always going to be the case. We bring our reality to God in our prayers. We bring to God the rhythm of our lives, which includes our energy and our enthusiasm, but also our tiredness and our restlessness as well. We might feel like we can only put ourselves in God’s presence and pray when we are full of joy or when we have nothing to hide, when we are focused and when we can give proper attention to God in a loving and reverent way. This may keep us from going to God in prayer on a regular basis. God wants us to be real with him, to come to him in our present reality, with feelings that are our own. So, when we are angry or frustrated or upset or unfocused or even disappointed in ourselves - that is probably when we need God the most, and that may be the time when way stay away from prayer based on how we feel and based on what is going on in our lives.
We know we are called to holiness and called to strive toward perfection, but we might have a distorted sense of what that means. Yes, we are called to strive toward the values of our faith in our daily lives, but if we think we are going to achieve a state with no deficiencies, no flaws, and no faults, then we are going to always fall short and get down on ourselves. It our call to holiness, we are to invite God to walk with us and accompany despite our flaws and imperfections, while still striving toward the values of our faith. God wants us in our prayer life to bring our helplessness and our weaknesses to him, to walk with him and not hide from him.
One thing I love about our Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program of religious education for our children is that it speaks about the sheep recognizing the voice of Jesus, the Good Shepherd calling out to them. The sheep know the voice of the Good Shepherd - they recognize his voice immediately because each voice we hear has its particular cadence and message. Many different voices call out to us in the world. Some voices have a message of joy, virtue, love, forgiveness, and life. However, some voices call out to us in hatred, bitterness, anger, violence, and division. How do we recognize the voice of God in the midst of all the other voices? Without a prayer life and a continuing relationship with Jesus, either we will not hear his voice, or if we hear it, perhaps we will not recognize his voice with all the other noise out there.
In prayer, God’s voice can reach out to us in different ways. In quiet whispers, but also in a loud authoritative voice too. In a voice that challenges us and stretches us, but also at times in a voice that soothes us, comforts us, and consoles us. His voice can call us to enjoyment, gratitude, and new life, but also to service, sacrifice, and self-denial.
Today’s Gospel reading of Jesus’ interaction with his disciples comes from the 10th chapter of Mark’s Gospel. In the 11th chapter of Luke’s Gospel, the disciples see Jesus praying in a particular place, so they ask him to teach them how to play. Throughout the Gospels, we see Jesus praying to his Father in so many different places and circumstances: when he is filled with joy, when he is suffering anguish and agony, when others are around him, when he is alone in the middle of the night, when he is on the top of the mountain, when he is on the plain, but above all, when he is in the ordinary circumstances of his daily life. The disciples saw what came from Jesus’ prayer life: the depth of graciousness, the power to love and forgive his enemies, the power to bring healing into the lives of those who were afflicted and hurting, the desire to reach out to the marginalized and the oppressed, the ability to transform the lives of others, the desire to serve others rather than to lord power over them. The disciples realized that a lot of the strength Jesus came from prayer.
Let us look at our Gospel today as an invitation to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, to grow in our relationship with him, to grow in our life of prayer.
No comments:
Post a Comment