Are You Praying?

So, have you been praying?

You may remember that last week, I asked you to spend at least ten minutes a day praying.  I also asked you to spend part of that time praying in a specific way.   I asked you to pray that God will help you truly open your heart and your soul so that God’s Holy Spirit will come in.  Pray that God will help you truly surrender your will to God’s will.  Pray to do that as an individual, and pray that we will do that as a parish.  It’s something I’m asking everyone in our parish to do.

So, have you been doing it?  And if so, have you seen any results yet?

Maybe you have.  I think it’s very likely that, if everyone in the parish has been praying this way, there are at least some who are seeing some results.  Maybe those results are something that’s happened.  Maybe those results are simply a greater feeling of inner peace and contentment.  But I think it’s probable that, if everyone in the parish is praying in this way, there are at least some who are seeing some results from it.

I hope you’re one of them.  But if you’re not, that’s okay, too.  Keep praying.  After all, it’s only been a week.  God does not promise us instantaneous results from our prayers.  God works in God’s way and in God’s time.  That does not always fit into what we want, but it does always fit into what we need.  That’s one of the places faith comes into this--trusting that God’s ways and God’s timing are better than our ways and our timing.

If you’re not seeing results yet, it does not mean that God’s not listening.  It may be that God is waiting for a better time.  It may be that God has already started to respond in some way, but we just can’t see it yet.  It may be that God has responded, but the response came in a way that we were not expecting and so we haven’t noticed it.  If you’re not seeing results yet, don’t get discouraged.  Keep praying.

I’m confident that, if everyone prays in this way, and does so for the entire period of Lent, we will see some results.  Now, don’t misunderstand.  This is not a “vending machine” theory.  I’m not saying that all we need to do is pray in the right way and God will pop out the result we want.  I do believe, though, that if we all pray with sincere hearts for God’s Holy Spirit to come into our lives and into the life of the parish, and if we all pray that God will help us surrender our will to God’s will, God will respond to that prayer.  I don’t believe that because I think God owes it to us to respond.  I believe that because I trust in God’s love and God’s grace.  I believe that because I trust in God’s goodness.  God will respond to this sincere prayer because that’s what God does.  That’s who God is.

So if you haven’t been praying in this way, please start.  And if you have been praying in this way, please keep going.  If we all do this, I’m convinced that God will do something.  And who knows?  It just may be something incredible.