3rd Sunday after Epiphany 21.1.18 Faith and
Charity
If I have faith to
move mountains but have not love I am nothing (1 Co13,2).
When it comes to asking for things in prayer we might regard
God in a somewhat impersonal light, as though His will is fixed and there is
nothing we can do to move it, so we might as well leave Him to it - in other
words, not bother to pray.
This is not how He
wants us to see it. He does not want us to be fatalists - those who believe
that fate is fixed irrevocably - but rather to pitch in, and have an influence on
how things turn out.
There is much that we cannot control, and we certainly do
not get all the things we would like, but repeatedly we are encouraged to ask
for what we need. God would not tell us to ask for what we need if it never
could make a difference.
Always there are so many good causes to pray for. It is not
selfish that we do this, as much of our prayer involves the wellbeing of other
people; and also we want God’s own order to be established.
Charity is at the heart of the matter. The supreme commands are
that we love God and Neighbour. Our prayer for whatever intention should flow
from these commands.
Loving God, we come to trust Him that He is always working
for our best interest. Loving others, we come to see them as God sees them, to
want for them what He wants.
We come closer to the pulse of Christ Himself, the Good
Shepherd, the Good Samaritan, the Sacred Heart, seeking out the stray sheep,
the prodigal sons, the victims of the robbers - with great compassion, in which
we come to share.
At the same time we develop a greater faith that God has the
power, and will use it for the best. The centurion of today’s Gospel had this kind
of faith. To him it was straightforward that God would give a simple command,
and a good result would happen.
We want what is best for each person, and we believe that
God will bring it about if we ask Him. Sometimes it takes a lot of asking
because the problem is much deeper than a simple illness, as in today’s Gospel.
We learn to pray for more than just physical short-term
blessings. We have a better idea of what is best.
The prayer would be more powerful if more people were
praying. We need a stronger, more uniform approach. The whole body needs to be
at prayer for each other, for the other members of the body. If one suffers [we] all suffer (1 Co 12,26).
God is pleased when we ask Him for favours, but even more
pleased when we seek to be near Him, when we seek Him for His own sake.
If we are prepared to go to this deeper level He is more
able to bless at the earlier levels.
Close to God is the best place to be, and from that place come
wisdom, generosity, goodwill, mercy, and all other related good qualities. If
we can plant ourselves there, all else will follow on.
Let us then pursue vigorous prayer for a range of
intercessions, physical and spiritual, individual and communal, temporal and
eternal.
It all comes together in the mind and heart of God, where we
position ourselves.
Only say but the word, Lord…and we will be healed, and from that
will other healing come.
No comments:
Post a Comment