Pray as you ought

Homily for the 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time, July 19-20, 2014.
Given at my home parish of Christ the King in Webster, SD and Immaculate Conception in Waubay, SD.
Readings: Wisdom 12:13, 16-19; Psalm 85:5-6, 9-10, 15-16; Romans 8:26-27; Matthew 13:24-43

Do you pray as you ought? Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus?

In January of this year, my wife Nancy and I, along with about 40 others, joined Bishop Robert Gruss on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. As we walked along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, gazed upon the ruins of Peter’s house in Capernaum where Jesus lived, performed miracles and taught the disciples, as we ascended Mt. Tabor, the site of the Transfiguration, as we gathered in the upper room, the site of the last supper, as we touched the site of Jesus’ birth and felt the rock of Calvary the site of his death, and as we celebrated Mass in his tomb, the site of his resurrection, we were drawn deeper into our relationship with Jesus. It was an experience, an encounter with Jesus, that none of us will ever forget.

But, you don’t need to travel to the Holy Land to have a personal relationship with Jesus. Just as each of us pilgrims had a relationship with Jesus before we went, each of us already has a personal relationship with Jesus, even if we don’t realize it.

When we talk about having a personal relationship with Jesus, it is similar to our relationship with our best friend. We want to spend time with them. We want to share with them our lives and for them to share their lives with us. We want to talk to them on a regular basis, every day or even better, several times a day. We are willing to do anything to help them just as they are willing to do anything to help us.

When we were created, God planted the tiny seed of faith in our hearts. This seed of faith needs to be feed on a regular basis to grow, we feed our faith through prayer. All of us pray together at every Mass we attend. We may also pray together as a family in our homes. And hopefully, each of us privately prays every day. It is through this prayer, we grown our faith which results in a personal relationship with Jesus.

Let’s take a few moments to examine our prayer life. Answer this question right now. When you pray, why do you pray? …… Most likely, your answer fell into one of three categories.

We can pray out of routine, it is simply what we do. We’ve perhaps have been doing it since we were a child, we feel it is something we ought to do, we may even feel guilty if we don’t pray adding to our already stressful lives.

We may pray out of fear. We may think God will be mad at us and punish us if we don’t pray or go to Mass. We may feel he will even send us to Hell when we skip them. When we pray out of fear, it can feel like we are “paying out taxes”, something we “have to do” then can get on with our lives. When we pray out of fear, we are trying to somehow satisfy God so He will leave us alone the rest of the time.

We may pray out of conviction. We are convinced of our faith, we sincerely believe or know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and as such, deserves our praise and worship. When we pray out of conviction, we are actively engaged, we pay attention to the words, we look for what Jesus is trying to teach us. We try to live our lives as Jesus wants us to live. We actually have an encounter with Jesus. We recognize we have a personal relationship with Jesus.

Even though our prayer is often with conviction, there are times we may slip back into one of the other categories. Recently, I was visiting with a friend who was dealing with some challenges. We talked well past 1:00 AM in the morning. It was after that, I finally was able to open the Liturgy of the Hours for Evening Prayer. My prayer that night, was not with conviction, it was a combination of routine and fear. I was not praying as I ought. But that was okay.

As St. Paul writes in the letter to the Romans, “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.” So even if our prayer life is not one of conviction, our prayer is still effective, because of the Holy Spirit. But that doesn’t relieve us from working toward a prayer life of conviction, drawing us closer into our personal relationship with Jesus.

So my challenge to you is find one thing this week to change in your prayer life. It can be as simple as making a commitment to waking up each morning and praying “Good Morning God.” If you haven’t been praying before each meal, recommit to making that a part of your life, both at home and away, taking just a few seconds to simply thank God for his blessings of the food He is providing you. For families, especially those with children still at home, start praying a family rosary every week. Another thing you could change is to prepare ourselves to come to Mass by reading the readings in advance, to help prepare you to hear what God is trying to tell you. You could also make the commitment to more fully participate in the Mass, by opening the missal and praying aloud the parts you are asked to pray, and singing the songs even if you don’t think you can sing.

So as we prepare for the Eucharist, take a few moments to commit to making just one change this week. And by making this change, and maybe other changes in the future, you will learn to more often pray as you ought, and you will discover the tiny seed of faith has grown to produced a personal relationship with Jesus.