Let us come to this second week in Advent ready to refresh our prayer life.
Scripture for meditation: Romans 8:26
The Spirit too helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groaning that cannot be expressed in speech.
Christ teaches us: Matthew 6:5-6
“When you are praying, do not behave like the hypocrites who love to stand and pray in synagogues or on street corners in order to be noticed. I give you my word, they are already repaid. Whenever you pray, go to your room, close your door, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees what no man sees, will repay you.”
Pope Benedict XVI instructs us:
"In looking to the prayer of Jesus, a question should arise in us: How do I pray? How do we pray? What sort of time do I dedicate to my relationship with God? In our prayer also, we must learn increasingly to enter into this history of salvation whose summit is Jesus; [we must learn] to renew before God our personal decision to open ourselves to His Will, and to ask Him for the strength to conform our will to His -- in every aspect of our lives -- in obedience to His plan of love for us. Certainly, prayer is a gift that must first and foremost be welcomed -- it is the work of God -- but it demands commitment and continuity on our part; above all, continuity and constancy are important. Dear brothers and sisters, let us form ourselves in an intense relationship with God, in prayer that is not occasional but constant, and full of trust, capable of illumining our lives, as Jesus teaches us. And let us ask Him that we may be able to communicate -- to the persons close to us and to those whom we meet on our streets -- the joy of encountering the Lord, Who is light for our lives. Thank you. Excerpts from Pope Benedict XVI’s general address, Nov. 30, 2011
Prayer of St. Augustine:
You are great, O Lord, and greatly to be praised; great is your power, and to your wisdom there is not limit. And man, who is part of your creation, wishes to praise you, man who bears about within himself his mortality, who bears about within himself testimony to his sin and testimony that you resist the proud. Yet man, this part of your creation, wishes to praise you, for you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you. (The Confessions of St. Augustine, Bk.1, 1)
My thoughts: This week let us begin to refresh our prayer life. Prayer is conversation with God: a pouring out of our hearts to our Father, and a listening to His voice within us. All of us have known people who tell the same stories and complain about the same things every time we see them. Don’t we wonder if they ever actually listen to our response or advice? It is time for us to take inventory and discover if we are trying to make our prayer life little more than a repetition of our wants and needs. Pope Benedict tells us it must be constant, and so much a part of our lives that we can share it with others. Christ warns us that it must be humble and sincere, and the writer of Romans reminds us that when we are at a loss for words, the Holy Spirit will step in and take over. Let us join our voices this week to St. Augustine’s, and find, in the heart of Our Lord, the rest we so desperately need.
Our prayer to God: It is easy to fall into the idea that our busy lives hold no time for more prayer, yet we can start by adding a quick prayer at rising and at retiring, incorporating all elements of adoration, thanksgiving, contrition and supplication (ACTS), a prayer such as: “Good morning (evening), Lord, thank you for this beautiful day I now face (have just completed). I praise you for the beauty in my life, and I am sorry for ever having offended you. Grant me, and those I love, the ability to see you more clearly, love you more dearly, and follow you more nearly. Amen.
Our prayer to God: It is easy to fall into the idea that our busy lives hold no time for more prayer, yet we can start by adding a quick prayer at rising and at retiring, incorporating all elements of adoration, thanksgiving, contrition and supplication (ACTS), a prayer such as: “Good morning (evening), Lord, thank you for this beautiful day I now face (have just completed). I praise you for the beauty in my life, and I am sorry for ever having offended you. Grant me, and those I love, the ability to see you more clearly, love you more dearly, and follow you more nearly. Amen.
Remember to say your novena prayer 15 times every day!
Christmas Novena
Hail, and blessed be the hour and moment
At which the Son of God was born
Of a most pure Virgin
At a stable at midnight in Bethlehem
In the piercing cold
At that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee,
To hear my prayers and grant my desires(mention request here).
Through Jesus Christ and His most Blessed Mother.
Hail, and blessed be the hour and moment
At which the Son of God was born
Of a most pure Virgin
At a stable at midnight in Bethlehem
In the piercing cold
At that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee,
To hear my prayers and grant my desires(mention request here).
Through Jesus Christ and His most Blessed Mother.
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