Devotional Thought of the Day:

¹  Once Jesus was in a certain place praying. As he finished, one of his disciples came to him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
Luke 11:1 (NLT2)

For the person who loves Jesus, prayer—even prayer without consolation—is the sweetness that always puts an end to all sorrow: he goes to pray with the eagerness of a child going to the sugar bowl after taking a bitter dose of medicine.

The words from Luke’s gospel above lead to the Lord’s Prayer.

As I read them, I feel great gratitude to the unknown disciple, for he asked something we all needed him to ask.

Lord, how do we talk with the Father?  How do we pray?  What do we pray for?  How does this all work?

Teach us…

And so He does.

Luther’s small catechism does a great job explaining how each of the petitions helps our trust in God, what we pray for and what it means to know God is answering that request in our lives, in our world, in our time.

These times become such a blessing, as we realize the promises of God, that as we open up to him, the relief and peace is amazing…

And even, as St Josemaria notes, times where God seems silent when we aren’t immediately comforted, become times where peace pervades, for we know He is at work.  The more we pray, the more our eyes are opened up to God at work in our lives, the more we trust Him when we don’t hear or see the answer immediately.

But that takes time, time to see that confidence build, time getting used to seeing God in the unexpected, in the broken, in the moments where reconciliation is needed.  Getting used to seeing Him working in ways unexpected, and in ways that leave you in awe.

As we get used to that, then we run to Him more frequently, we do so with greater expectation, like the child St. Josemaria describes.

It is hard to explain, this desire to run to God our Father, to just pour out our pain and anxiety, ot talk of the future, to hand over our sins and failures, things that He promises to deal with so that we can live in peace with Him.

That doesn’t mean prayer is a perfect art, or that we still don’t struggle.  We do.. and yet that is a blessing as well… for then we learn again – He is there.

So pray, let it all out..and enter His peace.

AMEN

Escriva, Josemaria. The Way . Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.