THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH Her Doctrine and Morals Fifth Sunday after Easter 5 May 2013

The Sunday Sermon

Dear Friends,

We are given today some very profound instruction on prayer. “Ask and you shall receive, that your joy may be made full.”

It is not in syllables that we pray, nor is it in the length of our prayers that we pray. It is from the heart that we pray and with the intensity (earnestness and sincerity) that we pray. It is likewise not the location of our bodies that matters so much when we pray but rather the location of our hearts and minds.

We need not say a lot of words. God does not need our words to know what resides in our minds and hearts. It is in the lifting of our hearts and minds to God that we pray. And St. Paul would have us do this continually. We may have often wondered how it is that we are to continually pray. It is in frequently lifting up our hearts and minds to God that we do this. To live with God first and foremost in our thoughts -- to do all things in Him, and for Him—this is how we are to pray. When we rise in the morning, before we retire at night, before we eat, after we eat, before we dress, after we undress, before we begin a task after we finish a task, while we are performing a task – at all times we can pray. When we are about to be examined by our superior or must go in front of him when he is cross we naturally ask God for help. When we are in danger or are afraid, we naturally call upon Him.

God desires for us to make Him our intimate companion. Too often, we go before God even while on our knees, and recite many syllables while our hearts and minds wander aimlessly. We leave there not even knowing what we have prayed. If we cannot even listen to our own prayers, why should God pay any attention to them? These lengthy prayers are many times an insult to God. They can be made pleasing if we are truly struggling and fighting the distractions and temptations to wander. In this case, it is then our struggle and desire to please God that is rewarded more so than the words that are said.

God is everywhere so everywhere is an appropriate place to pray. Our bodies are temples and so at all times and in all places we are called upon to enter within ourselves and lift up our hearts and minds to God. This is easily done without ever impairing our work at hand. On the contrary, it so happens that the more we do this the better we are able to perform the task at hand.

Our joy will be full and our prayers will be heard when we rightly ask. We only rightly ask when we beg God not for material things, but for the perfect gift – eternal life. “Seek first the kingdom of Heaven and its justice and everything else will be given you besides.” The reason our prayers have not been answered is that we have not asked, or we have asked for the wrong things.

Some may argue that the text says “anything” that you ask. Eternal life is everything, all else is nothing when placed side by side with it. So if we ask for anything besides eternal life we are asking for nothing, and most often that is what God gives us. We must reorient ourselves to truly seek that our joy will be made full, and it will only be made full in eternal life. It is only full in heaven where nothing more can be added to it. We must seek this first and foremost and then without having to ask, all else that we need will be given to us.

St. Paul three times prayed that God would remove a temptation from him. He was seeking a temporary good while here on earth and God did not give him this request. This temptation was necessary for his spiritual development. He was humbled by this, and began to realize his own weakness and in this he was made strong because he relied not upon himself (because he knew he was too weak), but he relied upon God. As St. Paul transformed his prayer to one of love for God and a desire for an eternal union with God, he was then given the grace that was necessary for him to resist the temptations and thus not remove them, but overcome them because of his increase in the Love of God.

We are commanded to pray for one another and even our enemies, but most often these prayers are of no benefit for those whom we pray because they have a free will and are in opposition to their own salvation. These prayers however benefit ourselves very greatly. “And if these three men: Noah, Daniel, and Job, be in it, they shall deliver their own souls by their justice; they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, since their iniquity has mounted up.” (Ezech. Xiv 14) Each of us must cooperate with the grace and do our own part. Without our own cooperation with God’s grace all the prayers of all the angels and saints in heaven will be of no avail to us.

We must therefore train ourselves in proper prayer – seeking through love this fullness of joy. If we truly desire and love our prayer will be heard and everything else that we need will be given us besides.