3 August, Monday — Are we taking prayer for granted?

Monday of Week 18 in Ordinary Time

Jer 28:1-17
Mt 14:22-26 

After sending the crowds away he went up into the hills by himself to pray.  

From Google:  A Catholic prayer is the raising of your mind and heart to God or asking God for good things, and Catholics use both spoken (vocal) and silent (mental) prayer. Common vocal prayers include the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Glory Be.

Well, I think we Catholics could teach Google a thing or two about prayer! As Catholics, we know there are five reasons we all pray, five purposes for prayer: adoration, confession, thanksgiving, intercession and petition. We pray all of these in mass every day.

I have been lightly following an exuberant Protestant who has been going to mass and excitedly shares what he is witnessing. He is over the top in His posts, and truly comes across genuine and authentically touched and excited about what he is learning and seeing. One of his posts was all about the Catholic prayers, sharing that Catholics have a prayer for everything — for all the common things we pray for, but for so much more! For finding a job, a spouse, an affordable car that works, a place to live, lost car keys; a sore thumb, a broken foot, serious illness; to get pregnant, stay pregnant, have a healthy delivery; for selling your house, for blessing your house; for siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, cousins, aunt and uncles…and on and on and on.

I smile (and even giggle) listening to him share what we all know and, often, simply take for granted. 

And in preparing for this reflection, feeling guided to write about prayer, I realized how I easily take my personal prayer time for granted. Even when I go to mass and first kneel at my pew, I realize I am not always purposeful in my words with God. Sometimes, I’m still in my own head. How often do I think of my day ahead and not actually prepare for the upcoming mass? How often do I connect with my ‘To Do’ list, or the friend beside or in front of me, and forget to connect to my Father? Why do I take my relationship with God Almighty for granted?

Maybe that is why we read over and over and over again in scripture that Jesus left and went alone to the mountains, to the sea, to the garden, to a deserted place, etc. to pray. Jesus didn’t take his relationship with God for granted. 

Brothers and sisters, let that sink in. 

Jesus, the SON OF THE LIVING GOD, the Second Person of the Trinity, the Saviour of the world, didn’t take His relationship with His Father for granted. 

He continued to show up – never late, never in a hurry, never with a preoccupied mind. He never slept in, instead; He never watched Netflix, instead; He never read a book nor scrolled nor napped or, well, nor anything, instead. 

He revered, loved, honoured and worshipped God the Father first, never taking for granted the complete fullness of God’s mercy, grace, love and forgiveness as a reason to get a raincheck on his prayer time.

(Today’s OXYGEN by Gina Ulicny)

Prayer: Come Holy Spirit, come. Lord, help me to surrender all to You. Everything. Give me the grace to desire to decrease so that You will increase.

Thanksgiving: Father God, we thank You for the gift of life and everything You continue to give us. For all the created things around us that we enjoy, love and desire. And most of all Father, for always being here with us so that we never have to hope You will listen, or hope You will understand – Father God, we thank You.