Tuesday of Week 12 in Ordinary Time
2 Kgs 19:9-11,14-21,31-35,36
Mt 7:6,12-14
“Enter by the narrow gate, since the road that leads to perdition is wide and spacious, and many take it; but it is a narrow gate and a hard road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
The gate is narrow and the path is tight and constricting. Not many find this way, but it is The Way that leads to eternal life. What does this mean, really? First, this means the path is the only way to eternal life, and this only way is through Jesus. Second, this path is not easy and will cramp your style and cause you to be resented, and even hated by others (others on the broad path to destruction, especially). Third, this path cannot be survived by our strength alone, but by the grace and strength of God.
It is clear then, that walking the narrow path and taking the narrow gate takes a lot of courage and sacrifice; and also requires a lot of prayer, and a great relationship with God. Not many find this path, because not many have truly encountered God in their lives and experienced a conversion. For those who have experienced a conversion — whether dramatic or gradual — we know there is no turning back, no matter how tempting the broad path looks. However, it is nonetheless easy to slip up and fall back on the broad path, simply because that is a much easier journey to make. There is no need for sacrifice, there is no need to be selfless, there is no need to obey overly demanding commandments, there is no need to miss out on what the world has to offer.
This is all true and real. It is easier to take the broad path than the narrow path if you are relying on your own abilities. What many miss, or find difficult to do, is rely fully on God. Relying on God’s strength is how we are able to walk that difficult path and to make the difficult sacrifices which will not be that difficult at all, if we rely on Him. Perhaps we are a result of an intensely meritocratic society that judges and values people on their own merits and productivity, so that asking us to cede control and rely on someone else’s power is such a forbidden idea. But we are, in fact, called to be counter to the world. So we do need to rely fully on God if we want to shape up spiritually.
Relying on God requires a relationship with Him. This refers to our interior prayer life. This is the part where we are to be more Mary than Martha. Again, it could be our ingrained pragmatism that pushes us to keep doing things so we have something to show for it — involvement in church ministries, participation in church activities and retreats, almsgiving, lots of fellowship, etc. While all of this is good and is to be encouraged, it is not good to neglect our interior prayer life. It is far easier to be seen doing things than it is to cultivate a rich prayer and spiritual life. Simply doing things is akin to walking the broad path instead of the narrow path.
Prayer is as essential as breathing. It is the most important thing before any ministry. Your prayer life is your interior life, which is your relationship with God. Neglecting our interior life puts us at risk of ending up just a shell, and could leave us burnt out or disillusioned. This is not very different from being burnt out and disillusioned by worldly things, but is more of a tragedy because — how can we lose faith in our faith? How can God let that happen?
The truth is, we are the ones who let that happen when we fail to maintain our relationship with God through prayer. We tend to lose focus on Him, and lose sight of the fact that all of our gifts and strength are from Him. We end up running on our own egos, which is simply not enough and also very wrongly focussed.
The simple solution is to maintain a prayer life. However, there is more to prayer than most people think. For many, prayer is petition, and perhaps also intercession, where we also pray for other people. But prayer is not just asking for favours, even if what we are asking for are virtues like faith and hope and strength. Prayer is communication. It is listening as well as talking, and it involves praise and thanksgiving (for God’s might and mercy, for the things He has done), adoration (for who God is), and contrition (for the many times we have failed to love as He did). These should all come before any requests that we have. Sometimes, prayer can simply be talking to God and not asking Him for anything.
In the Gospel of Luke (11:1-4), Jesus taught us all how to pray, and this prayer includes all the above — Praise, Adoration, Thanksgiving, Contrition, Petition. If Jesus himself taught this, then this must be the correct, ‘officially approved’ way to pray.
My brothers and sisters in Christ, prayer is vital to our faith journey. This week, let us pray with more focus on praise and thanksgiving and contrition. Let us listen to God and hear what He has to say to us. Let us form a closer relationship with Him. Let us learn how to simply be, and exist in God’s love, instead of rushing to prove or show it tangibly. And here is a piece of good news for those of us who live in Singapore — the Adoration Chapel at the Catholic Spirituality Centre is once again open 24/7, so head on over! Only when we are truly safe and secure in God’s love can we share that same love with others.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Felicia Zou)
Prayer: Almighty and merciful Father, we thank You for your unending love for us. We are sorry for the times we have failed to love as You have. We are sorry that we have neglected to turn to You in thanksgiving. May we learn to love You and others, as much as You have loved us.
Thanksgiving: Dear Lord, we thank You for always being with us and for Your mercy towards us.
OXYGEN 
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