Sunday after Ascension 16.5.10 In the Upper Room
How intense the prayer in that upper room must have been!
It is commonly said there is a shortage of prayer in the world. Of all the things going on in the world at any one time not much of it would be prayer. Many people never pray at all, and many of them would be Catholics.
We can speculate what would happen; what would the world look like if more people prayed? I suspect that we would have a very radical change on the face of the earth if this were so.
Prayer enables us to commune with God directly and as we do that we are drinking in the essence of life, of all that is good and clean and powerful. It is a purifying activity which will sweep away all sin and its effects. It is healing, transforming, life-giving.
All this assumes that the prayer is well done and with full sincerity. Hasty, poorly executed prayer will not do much good and may even be offensive to God.
The prayer has to be done in such a way that the one praying is really entering into the presence of God; really engaging with Him; ready and willing to hear whatever He has to say; ready to do anything He tells us; always trusting in His holy will.
Prayer like this makes us ten feet tall; gives us the strength of Samson, the courage of David, the fervour of Paul, the patience of Simeon, the humility of the centurion, the charity of the Good Samaritan... and every good thing needed.
Prayer like this will change us into different people because our whole way of thinking will be transformed. We will be less self-centred, less cautious for our own safety and comfort; more willing to be a flame consumed in the service of God.
The prayer in that Upper Room must have been of a high quality because of the effects that it produced. The Holy Spirit came down in all His power and worked a great change in the ones praying.
Perhaps some present in that room were better at praying than others. Not least Mary, Mother of the Lord. She would always have prayed with nothing less than total commitment, and her prayer would have helped ignite the others; also to sustain them if they were feeling discouraged.
She is still praying for us in precisely the same way and for the same reason.
We are in the ‘upper room’ ourselves as we gather together and look heavenward for strength, for guidance, for answers.
We are still asking the Holy Spirit to come even though He has come. We need more of Him. It is not any lack of giving on His part that leaves us needing more. The lack is on our side. We (as the human race) have not been fervent enough about wanting Him to come.
We have been either too distracted or too discouraged or too afraid of commitment or too selfish to apply ourselves to the simple remedy of asking a higher power to set things right.
And we have simply not believed enough in what we were asked to do. We have not had enough faith. So with all these categories there has been plenty lacking.
For all that is lacking we ask the Holy Spirit to make up the difference.
Even to pray properly – this must itself be a matter for prayer. The fulfilment of one prayer helps us to make the next one better still. So we keep improving.
We have to work overtime – we small band – because the great sluggish mass of the human race is not awake to these things. Not yet at least. We have to light a fire here, and that is what we are setting ourselves to do.
Mary, especially, and all the great saints in that upper room – pray for us. Pray that our prayer be like yours.
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