Word to the Wise
Thursday, March 9, 2017 - 1st Week of Lent - Thurs
[Esth C:12, 14-16, 23-25 and Matt 7:7-12]THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 2017 THURSDAY IN THE FIRST WEEK OF LENT [Esther C:12, 14-16, 23-25 and Matthew 7:7-12] "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." [Matthew] Prayer is a sensitive subject, in no small part because many people feel guilty about it. I often hear the line, "I neglected my morning and evening prayers." Somewhere and somehow that routine was engrained in a certain generation of Catholics. Another line I hear is "I need to pray more." Somewhere, somehow, prayer became quantified. In Lent some folks become more devout in the sense that they either go to daily Mass or Stations of the Cross or go to the parish adoration chapel and say certain prayers but when Lent is over, they stop, which means, ironically, that they "give up" those activities for the rest of the year! On retreats I challenge the participants to do a "history of prayer" in their lives, starting from their earliest memories of praying and working up to the present time. How do those earlier experiences compare with present experience. What does one say or do? Jesus speaks to us today in the gospel scripture about prayer as asking for something in confidence. That is certainly a familiar form. But there is also the simple "being with and listening attentively" as shown in Luke 10 with Martha and Mary. The way we pray (or don't pray) will tell us a lot about our relationship with the Lord. Since prayer is an expression of that relationship, we can learn what we need to start doing, stop doing or keep on doing in this regard. It's a good Lenten opportunity. AMEN
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