10 September 2013
Prayer is a great privilege that we have as beloved sons and daughters of God. It is also as necessary for us as breathing. In prayer, the God who designed thousands of galaxies comes to us as our “Abba,” literally our “Daddy.” Our God is infinitely greater than any earthly father. He wants to talk with us, to hear from us! Jesus–as the only-begotten Son of the Father–always turned to God as his Source through prayer. For Christ, prayer was of paramount importance, as well as a great joy. Before choosing his apostles, we hear that Jesus “departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer.” In this way, the God-man shows us how to be most fully human.
Although we do not keep all-night vigils, we can reason that if Christ needed to pray so much, we do too. As St. Paul says, we “walk in him, rooted in him and built upon him.” I recall a priest once telling me in Confession to remember how priceless it would be to have just five minutes to speak one-to-one with the Pope, yet how much more marvelous it is to have five minutes to intimately speak with God. Although we all need rhythms of longer prayer, so often I do not appreciate the value of these “little talks” with Christ and the Father, through the Holy Spirit. Today, what in our hearts do we need to tell our good God?