Thursday 18th June 2020
11th week in ordinary time year
II
Ecclesiasticus 48:1-15, Matthew
6:7-15
Many Christians always ask
whether God listens to their prayers despite all the time they spend praying.
Many people pray continuously, sometimes for a particular intention and it
seems as if God does not listen to them.
In the gospel reading of today,
Jesus makes us to understand that the reason many of our prayers seem not to be
answered is because our attitudes to prayer is very poor.
The first point is that God's
answer to our prayers does not depend on how much we shout or the length of
time we spend praying. We may therefore get discouraged if our prayers are not
answered after all that we have done. The answer to our prayers depends solely
on God and not us. We should always trust that God hears us and knows what we
need even before we ask.
For many Christians too, to pray
means to ask God for something. This is not the case. Prayer is not only
petitions, but adoration and Thanksgiving. This is why Jesus teaches us how to
pray in the gospel reading of today.
In prayer, we have to first of
all acknowledge God's might and thank him for what he has done for us. Even
before we ask him for a favour, we have to be disposed for his will for us.
This is why we pray that his heavenly will for us be accomplished on earth. We
should be ready to accept the will of God for us. What we are asking of God may
not be his will for us or not at that moment. We have to trust God for he is
the master planner and he is aware of what we need. We should also pray for
what we truly need, just as he taught us to ask for daily bread and not a
trailer load of bread.
The right attitude towards
prayers gives us happiness and peace of mind and body. Approach God today with the right mindset,
and his heavenly will shall be made manifest in your life. God help us. Amen
Fr Michael Osatofoh Eninlejie MSP
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