Tuesday, September 10, 2013 23rd Week in Ordinary Time First Reading: Col 2; 6-15 Gospel Reading: Lk 6:12-19 Jesus went out into the hills to pray, spending the whole night in prayer with God. When day came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them whom he called apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James son of Alpheus and Simon called the Zealot; Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who would be the traitor. Coming down the hill with them, Jesus stood on a level place. Many of his disciples were there and a large crowd of people who had come from all parts of Judea and Jerusalem and from the coastal cities of Tyre and Sidon. They gathered to hear him and be healed of their diseases; likewise people troubled by evil spirits were healed. The entire crowd tried to touch him because of the power that went out from him and healed them all. D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE (Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience) People often turn to prayer as a last resort. One rarely comes to God for those needs and desires that are accessible by human genius. Many people approach God in prayer for things that have become unreachable by human strategy. No wonder the subject of prayer is almost always the impossible. In his “Prayer” Ivan Turgenev wrote: “Whatever a man prays for, he prays for a miracle. Every prayer reduces itself to this: Great God, grant that twice two be not four.” This is what becomes of prayer if made the last resort. It becomes venue for asking the impossible. From where did we learn to pray like this? Where are we coming from? Jesus never taught us to pray only when things have become impossible. On the contrary he taught us to pray daily for basic things, such as the daily bread. When we come to ask him for impossible things because we are already at our wit’s end, the Lord’s reply is: “I do not know where you come from” (Luke 13:25). The Lord wants us to be totally dependent on him in everything because he wants us to pray every day. If the opposite were true, the Lord’s Prayer could have suggested that we pray not for daily bread but for a yearlong supply. In today’s Gospel, Jesus was not in crisis. Choosing his Twelve Apostles was very well within his capacity and expertise. He was not in a situation where things have become impossible for him. But he spent the whole night in prayer. The time of night, being time for indispensable sleep, is precious time. By spending precious time praying, Jesus showcased his deep relationship with his Father. When prayer is relationship-based, it is the whole person praying, and prayer becomes part of his nature. The person then prays because it’s his nature to pray, and not merely because life is disturbing him beyond his capacity to handle. - Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM.Email:dan.delosangeles@gmail. Website: frdan.org. Prayer for the day: God our Father, without you we are nothing. Increase our sense of dependence on you so that we may value prayer as source of our strength. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Title: The importance of prayer
Posted on: Tue, 10 Sep 2013 14:13:33 +0000
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