God's Providence in Each Person's Life

In the collect of today's liturgy, we pray:  "O God, whose providence never fails in its design, keep from us, we humbly beseech you, all that might harm us and grant all that works for our good."  We might reword this as follows: "O God, whose providence never fails in its design, keep from (insert any one's name, especially someone with whom you might be having problems) we humbly beseech you, all that might harm (this person's name) and grant all that works for (this person's) good."  Note how praying for this other person in this way changes your heart, and mine!

Let us remind ourselves that God's providence "never fails in its design" for this other person or for ourselves.  God has a plan for the good of other persons and our own good. When we think of others in this way, especially persons with whom we are having some kind of difficulty, our attitude changes from thinking ill of them, perhaps, to seeing them from God's perspective.  Also, when the problem I am having is that I want to help where I am unable to help, God reminds me that He is that person's Savior, not me. And that whatever is happening in this other person's life that I am finding problematic is of God's design and will bring about some good for this person to which I am not privy!  In other words, God is God and I am only one of His created beings just like the person with whom I am troubled!

Finding Grace in a Timely Manner

In today’s first reading, Hebrews 4: 12-18, St. Paul encourages us to “confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.” Faced with devastating losses, however,  such as those resulting from natural disasters, terminal illnesses, or chronic diseases (alcoholism, drug addiction or any other kind of addiction, including the addiction to experiencing the adrenalin rush of being violent), we may conclude that it does not pay to prayer. After all, our prayers seem to go unanswered.  In our pain, we may  cry out in anger: “What’s the use. God doesn’t answer our prayers anyway. I’ve lost everything when the tornado struck , when hurricane-force winds struck our village.” Or “My loved one still died.” Or “Why pray? The abuse continues. My loved one refuses to go for help.” Yet St. Paul says: “[C]onfidently approach the throne of grace.”  

The help we receive in prayer, our own or that of others, might be intangible, elusive.  We may find the strength to endure, the wisdom to help a neighbor, the courage to share our pain with a caring, non-judgmental  friend, healthcare provider or a compassionate clergy person.  Prayer empowers us so that  we don’t get stuck in self-pity or in anger. Instead of becoming  ranting, raving critics of the events of our lives, we become active doers,  looking for possibilities to make a difference in the midst of disappointing circumstances. Prayer empowers us to bring significant changes in our attitudes and behaviors, whereby, as we pray in the Serenity Prayer,  we “accept the things we cannot change, change the things we can [ourselves and no one else] and the wisdom to know the difference.”

The Power of Faith

“Only say the word and my servant shall be healed,” the centurion says to Jesus in today’s Gospel, t. 8: 5-11.  Jesus is amazed at this man’s faith, a faith He has not found in his fellow Jews. The centurion is a Roman soldier, one who enforces Roman law and probably has killed Jews who have transgressed Roman demands.  To hear Jesus praise this man must have been difficult for the Jews. “What is Jesus doing,” they must have wondered. Does He not know who this man is?  God has no favorites, we are told by Paul in Romans 2:11. He saved anyone who believes that He is Son of  God, the Messiah, the One sent by the Father to reconcile the world to the Father.

Do I believe, as did this centurion? Do I realize who comes down upon our altars at every Catholic Liturgy, that is, at every Catholic Mass? Do I realize that at every Mass Jesus is reconciling humankind with God in the breaking of the bread, the Body of the Lord,  and the outpouring of the wine, the Blood of Christ? At the time of Holy Communion when we pray  “Say only the word and my soul shall be healed” that my soul is actually being healed? That too happens when I intercede for the world, for loved ones, for all involved in crime of any kind. Like the centurion, I am saying:  “Say but the word and those I am praying for will be made whole.” Yes, in every liturgy, we ask the Lord to say only the word and our world will be healed of its divisions and participate in the reconciling action Jesus has accomplished for us on the cross. Do I really believe that?

The Power of Intercessory Prayer

In today’s first reading, Ex 32:7-14, we learn of how fed up God is with His people and is ready to eliminate them from the face of the earth.   Did God forget the covenant He made with His people following the flood when He said that He would never destroy the people again? Or is God simply voicing the depth of His disappointment in the Chosen People?  Imagine, they have made a golden calf and are worshipping it, stating that this is the god who saved them from the Egyptians.  Can they be that stupid, I ask?  A golden calf? A God? Are they crazy?

Before I go too far, let me stop and think!  When I depend totally upon myself or another human being or something another person or I have created to save me from my despair, am I not doing the same thing?  When I forget who has the power to transform that which is contributing to my frustration and anger, that which is rendering me hopeless and forlorn, am I not also forgetting the God who brings me out of the “Egypts”  of my life?

How often do I not look to things not of God to “make my day”! 

The author of Exodus 32: 7-14 reminds me that, through the intercessory prayer, in this case, of Moses, God relented of “the punishment he had threatened to inflict on his people.”   Moses cries out to the Lord, “Let your blazing wrath die down!”  And it does!  All of us are brought back into God’s graces by the intercessory prayer of others and vice versa. Let us never forget the importance of asking for prayers and being an intercessor for people around the globe.  Let us, too, remember that Jesus is continually interceding for us and, when we do not know how to pray, the Spirit prays within us in accord with God’s holy will for us (Rom 8:26).

No wonder miracles of grace continue to surface throughout the world of today. Open my eyes to them, Lord!

The Power of Intercessory Prayer

In today’s Gospel, John 4: 43-54, Jesus returns to Cana.  A royal official heard that Jesus arrived there from Judea and went to intercede on behalf of his dying son.  He asked him to come down and heal his son, who was near death. Jesus responds, it seems, rather harshly, saying : “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.” This did not deter the royal official. He came to Jesus on behalf of his dying son and he was not to be turned away.  “Sir, come down before my child dies.”  Jesus says to him, “You may go; your son will live.”

Do we realize the power of intercessory prayer, whether that prayer is for a person who is dying physically or a person who has gone astray?  In My Utmost for His Highest,  Oswald Chambers says to us, in the meditation for March 11, “If we are not heedful and pay no attention to the way the Spirit of God works in us, we will become spiritual hypocrites. We see where other people are failing, and then we take our discernment and turn it into comments of ridicule and criticism, instead of turning it into intercession on their behalf.” That statement hit me between the eyes, so to speak. It was as though Jesus was saying  to me directly:  “Dorothy Ann, when God shows you where another person is failing, that is a call to make intercession for that person, not an invite to engage in ridicule or criticism of that person.”
Just as this father had an obligation to seek Jesus’ healing for his dying son, so, too, do you and I have an obligation to intercede for another when God opens our eyes to how that person is falling into sinful patterns. That act of charity on behalf of another is as crucial as it is that others pray for you and me when we, too, have landed into one of Satan’s snare. Our welfare and that of others depends on the power of prayer, on God’s mercy. And God, who hears all prayer, acts on behalf of the person for whom we are praying, just as He interceded for the royal official’s son at his father’s request.

Praying One's Experiences

This morning was one of those mornings when I knew that I had to bare my soul to the Lord and honestly search for what was going on within me, why was I so angry about a situation over which I have no control, where was I getting hooked?  I could have gone to today’s Scripture readings and had a Pollyanna experience versus getting downright “dirty” by looking at my disgruntled spirit!  I knew what I needed to do.

I asked the Lord to show me why I was so broiled with negative feelings.  Ever find yourself having thoughts of which you are ashamed?  “Me, thinking that way?”  “Oh, my goodness.” So I identified the ugly thoughts, the unkind thoughts, laid them before the Lord and asked God to give me feedback. I  swished to my nondominant hand and started writing. The following message emerged, I believe, from the  Holy Spirit counseling me from my true self:

 Dorothy Ann, I know your pain. You are not a bad person, an ugly person. I commend your honesty in acknowledging those negative feelings, recognizing, as well,      the accompanying thoughts. Let these thoughts pass by like dark clouds. Do not judge yourself or condemn yourself.

Your ego, wanting to control, has clashed with another ego wanting control as well. Two mountains have crashed into each other. For your sake and the other person’s sake, seek refuge in Me. Yes, come to Me. I will refresh you. Let me arm you with patience, humility and love.

 I prayed:  “Free me from the tyranny of my ego! Spare me from crashing into that “rock” and not heeding your warning:  “Walk away.”

When I discussed the issue with my twin sister Doris, who is in heaven, she encouraged me to surrender my ego to the Lord, showed me what I was “fighting about” that got me hooked and then reminded me that the Lord knows what I need before I ask Him. She also asked me to trust the Lord and He will act.

I then thanked the Lord for the grace to say “I’m sorry” to the person with whose ego I clashed and asked forgiveness.