Word to the Wise
Sunday, July 17, 2011 - 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time - A
[Wis 12:13, 16-19; Rom 8:26-27; Matt 13:24-43 or 13:24-30,12]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.
When my mother was in the final stages of her terminal cancer, her cousin came to visit her. He was a fine gentleman and a staunch Southern Baptist. After his visit, as I was walking with him out to his car, he asked me, "How do you pray for a Catholic?" My response was, "The same way you pray for anyone!" The Spirit will take care of the rest as far as I'm concerned.
There are times when the "prayers" we know just don't seem adequate to our situation. Yes, we know the traditional prayers: the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Glory Be....all the prayers we know with the Rosary! We may even have a prayerbook that we've kept over the years and turn to. Yet, there are times when we seem silenced by our situation and don't know what to say. Maybe we can say the single word, "HELP!" If even that is too much, we have the assurances of St. Paul that the Holy Spirit takes over and prays for us! I find that tremendously consoling! My cousin needed to pray as a Southern Baptist, but his intention was more than enough! We can, ourselves, say, "I don't KNOW what to say!" Sometimes silence is the best prayer. But we can be sure that we don't need words everytime. We just need to do what we can to let God help. AMEN