29^TH Sunday ORDINARY TIME

Dear Parishioners,

When I reflect on the scriptures today, words and phrases come to mind, like: PERSEVERANCE, ENDURANCE, PRAYER, HOPE, FAITH, not giving up; stamina, patience, will power … just a few to start with!! This is what life is about, to be able to keep going and growing and not giving in. This is what PRAYER is about … placing ourselves in God’s presence and speaking to him about our lives. In doing this constantly; in good times and bad, we come closer to God and to understanding his will for us.

Notice in the Gospel, that the widow was asking for justice against her enemies or oppressors. The judge wasn’t really interested in seeing justice done. She was only a widow and could be ignored as a ‘nobody’ without any rights. But she persevered and annoyed him so much that he acted in her favour so as to get rid of her.

On the other hand, our God is a God who listens to our prayers.  He grants us what is best for us, not what we think he should give or do.  When Jesus was dealing with this matter of answer of answered or unanswered prayers, he said: “How much will he give the Holy Spirit to those who ask!” Note, Jesus doesn’t say God will give all you ask or pray for – no, we are filled with the power of the Holy Spirit of God. Ten our lives fall into place.

Keep in mind, that faith and prayer are interconnected. St Augustine said: “Faith pours out prayers, and the pouring out of prayer sustains and strengthen faith.” Prayer is the oil that keeps the lamps of faith burning. The fruit of prayer is faith. The fruit of faith is love. The fruit of service is love. The fruit of service is peace. We need to remember that the old saying: “one thing leads to another” is true in our prayer life as in the rest of our daily lives. Our thoughts and actions are interconnected; one leading to the other parts of our lives. So we may ask why prayer is important? What does it do? Prayer clarifies our hope and our way of thinking. It helps us to appreciate what is important or less so; it helps us to discover our true selves and what God is asking of us.

Last Sunday, we heart about being thankful – an Attitude of Gratitude in our lives. Similarly today, we can think of an ATTITUDE OF PRAYER in our lives. We are blessed when we can sit and pray. But also when we are in our daily activity to have that moment of gratitude to God; thanking him for the very work that we are able to do; thinking of those people whom we need to pray for etc. All this can be done in an instant if we have that attitude of prayer in our lives.

Have a blessed week, Fr Joe