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Before I forget...
· The only force I believe in is prayer. -Flannery O'Connor
Often we think of prayer as a way of asking God for something. Sure, we have requests for ourselves and for others in our prayer life. But, do we ever pray to God and ask for nothing? Do we simply praise the goodness and grandeur of God? God is worthy of our thanksgiving and honor. Such prayer is part of the Jewish and Christian tradition.
If we want to pray like Jesus did, we should pray the Psalms. As a devout Jew, Jesus would have prayed the Psalms. Consider Psalm 8. It consists of nine verses addressed to God, without a single request being made. The same is true of the thirteen verses of Psalm 65. I encourage you to read Psalms 8 and 65. They are found in the Old Testament, or the Jewish Scriptures. You will find them between the Book of Job and the Book of Proverbs. The 150 Psalms are the official prayers of the Catholic Church. (In the Middle Ages, when many people were unable to read the Psalms, the rosary was introduced& with 150 Hail Marys in the fifteen decades. If you couldn't read and meditate on the Psalms, then you were encouraged to memorize and meditate on the mysteries of the rosary!)
I
encourage you to write your own prayer of pure praise. No requests, just thanksgiving and adoration of God. Read Psalms 8 and 65 to help get you started. Go for it& absolutely no requests.
Since we are more accustomed to ask or to petition God for favors, consider the bold words of the 4th century Christian, Basil of Caesarea:
Remember, O Lord, this congregation present, And those who are absent with good cause.
Have mercy upon them and upon us, According to the multitude of your loving kindness.
Fill their garners with good things. Preserve their marriages in peace and love.
Take care of their little ones; Lead their youth; Give strength to the aged.
Comfort the timid and afraid. Bring home the scattered. Restore those who have erred.
And unite them in all your holy catholic and apostolic church.
Heal those who are vexed with unclean spirits. Go with those traveling by sea or by land.
Protect the widow; Shelter the orphans.
Deliver...those who work in mines,and those in exile;
and those in distress or poverty, or any kind of trouble.
Remember all who stand in need of your pity;
Those that love us; those that hate us;
Those who desire our prayers, unworthy though
We be to offer them to you.
Remember, O Lord, all of your people,
and pour upon them in abundance your goodness,
granting all their prayers unto salvation.
All those whom we have not remembered through ignorance or forgetfulness or through the multitude of their names,
Do yourself call to mind, O God; For you know the name and age of each, even from our mother's womb.
For you, O Lord, are
The helper of the helpness; The hope of the hopeless; The savior of the tempest-tossed;
The harbor of the voyager; and The physician of the sick.
Be all things to all people
For you know them all, their petitions,
Their dwellings, and their minds.
Wow!
Fr. Bill
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