DATE : 23/2/2021
EVENT : Tuesday of the First Week of Lent
COLOUR:Violet
READINGS : Isaiah 55:10-11; Resp. Psalm 33:4-7.16-19; Matt. 6:7-15.
THEME: PERSIST BUT DO NOT INSIST
Greetings beloved people of God. I welcome you to "My Catholic Homily Digest". On this Twenty Third day of February, I wish to reflect with you on the theme: " Persist But Do Not Insist". Beloved, do you know that many of us pray to God with the wrong attitude and mindset. Do you also know that many of us fail to obtain that which we are seeking from God because we lack the virtue of perseverance. We give up too easily, we are too rigid, and we sometimes use our own hands to block our blessings. The only way we can obtain what we ask from God through prayers, is not by an irrational insistence on exactly that which we have in mind. But by persevering in presenting our petition to the divine will of God.
I once went to visit and pray for a sick patients in the hospital. While the prayer session was going on, I made use of indirect words such as: "if it is the will of God, let our sister be healed but if not, let his will prevail". Immediately I concluded the prayers, the elder sister of the patient retorted with an angry voice and said to me: "Father don't you have faith, while would you be praying as if you are doubting what God can do". Then I noticed that she was not comfortable with my method of praying. She wanted a prayer that will force the hand of God to heal her sister instantly. The mindset of this lady is not different from that of many of us. Listen to me dearest, God is not impressed by your use of high sounding words in prayer. He is not forced to move by your stubborn insistence. He is not coaxed by the use of many emotive and flattery words. And it is not a sign of strong faith, when you blindly Insist on an intention without alighning it with the will of God. This is the crux of today's Gospel reading, Matt 6:7-15. In the Lord's prayers, we are given the template of an ideal prayer. Let everything we say or commit to prayer, be done prudently and subjected to the crucibles of the divine will.
So beloved in Christ, when next you pray, do not say, Oh Lord bless me, grant me this or that, provide for me, heal me, give me this or that one. Instead, pray like this, using the Scriptures: oh Lord, if it is your will, bless me, if it is your will heal me, according to merciful kindness provide for me. In other words, just like Christ warned his disciples, let us be weary about the use of repetitive and high words. Rather, let us keep persisting and surrendering to the will of God so that at the appointed, God will rain the favours we have been asking for as he promised in the first reading of today Isaiah 55:10-11.
Oh that today you would listen to his voice harden not your hearts (Ps.95:7-8).
LET US PRAY : Lord Jesus, help me to persevere in my love for you and may my fervent prayers be pleased to find favour with you
The Lord be with you....... and with your Spirit.
May Almighty God bless you in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit ....Amen
@ Fada Emmanuel Nnamdi Megwara, MSP. ⛪
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