In Synch with God's Will

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time Oct. 17, 2010 (Lk 18:1-8)

Then he told them a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary. He said, "There was a judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected any human being. And a widow in that town used to come to him and say, 'Render a just decision for me against my adversary.' For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought, 'While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being, because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her lest she finally come and strike me.'"

The Lord said, "Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says. Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them? I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

Prayer is our connection to God. We, as mere creatures of the Almighty God are in need of His sustenance and care. Yet, for some reason, sometimes, we don't pray enough, we don't pray from the heart or we just don't pray at all.

We have so many reasons why we don't pray enough. Perhaps one reason is that people don't really know how to pray. There is that wrong conception of prayer as an elaborate recitation of words which follow a strict formula. We get this feel that there is a certain way of praying we should strictly follow. We should get rid of this notion. These "formats" or "formulae" are for children who really don't know what to say next when praying. We, on the other hand, as supposedly mature Catholics, must have already learned that prayer is communication with God, and is thus an open conversation where you can pour your heart out and where God speaks to you in the silence of your heart.

Prayer can be integrated in everything that we do. Remember, God is always with us. So speak to Him as if He were there beside you; because He is there, precisely beside you! While you're beating a deadline for your office or school, talk to Him. You won't feel alone. While you're stuck in traffic and are in a hurry, tell Him, "Lord, let's speed this up a little." When we talk to Him as a friend beside us, we radically change our prayer life. Actually, we transform life into a prayer, into one big conversation with God.

In the Gospel today, we see a judge granting the request of a widow. Here we find an example of persistent prayer. We must not be weary in prayer because it is an expression of our dependence on God. In our First Reading, we are presented with another case of persistence in prayer. As long as Moses raised his rod and outstretched his arms, the Israelite army won. Whenever he put his arms down, their army lost. He had to be assisted so he could keep his arms raised. This, perhaps, may seem superstitious and, perhaps, may also present the idea that God blindly obeys prayers as long as we push the right buttons. But this is not so. This story reminds us that faith must always be expressed in a lively prayer life. It is not enough for me to say that God is with me and I can do this and I believe. Faith must be expressed in prayer. Yes, God knows what I need, but have I asked Him for it? If I believe He is with me and is helping me in everything I do, then shouldn't I let Him in on the goals and the plans? Shouldn't we collaborate with our partner and speak with Him?

As a last point of reflection, I took notice of Jesus' imagery of a judge. When we pray for something, God acts as a judge who sees our real intentions. God decides which of our prayers are worthy to be granted and when they are to be granted. When we pray, God answers only in three possible ways. If our prayer is good, then He grants it. If it is not good for us, He rejects it. But He gives us something which, according to His wisdom, is better for us. Lastly, if our prayer is good but is not yet called for, He will give it at the right time. God's justice is never delayed, even if sometimes, we think it is. God's timing is perfect.

Our prayer is an act of uniting our will with God's perfect will. When we pray, our attitude must be that of surrendering to God's will. Our prayer should be, "God, this is my will. If it is in accord with Yours, let it be. If it is not, please show me Yours and let it be done in my life." Our prayer must be an affirmation that we need God to work in our lives, not a dictation of how we want Him to work. Otherwise, we will despair when we don't get things our way. When we surrender to God's will, we will see Him work in our lives in ways better than we could have imagined!

The Gift of Self

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time Nov. 8, 2009 (Mk 12:38-44)

As he taught, Jesus said, "Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted in the marketplaces, and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely."

Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.

Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything — all she had to live on."

Giving the graces we have received back to God is a way of showing gratitude to Him. He is God, and He needs nothing, but our desire to thank Him is a gift from Him and it makes us grow in love for Him. In giving back to God, we recognize the fact that everything comes from Him, even our very existence.

In the Gospel, Jesus praises a poor old widow as having given the most in the treasury, even though the others gave huge amounts. Jesus points out that the woman gave out of her poverty. She gave even if it meant that she will not have any left for herself. The others gave large amounts from their surplus wealth. But the widow gave everything she had. She gave herself. Even though it was not much, it was the most.

The widow's generosity teaches us that nobody is too poor to give. Every one of us, even those whom we call poorest of the poor, has something we can offer to God. He has given us so much. The problem is that we disregard His graces and call ourselves poor. We hoard everything we have and refrain from giving, reasoning out that we ourselves need these things. We do not realize that we can give, even when it seems that we, too, are in need.

I've heard of a story that demonstrates my point. This took place in a seminary. After a fire devoured some houses near the seminary, some of the victims sought refuge in that eseminary. The priests and seminarians welcomed them. Then, a group of monks (I'm not sure from which religion) asked the seminary administrators if they could extend help. They requested for the evacuees to assemble in one place. When the seminary administrators gathered the evacuees in a chapel, the monks passed collection baskets around, obviously asking for money from the evacuees. While this was happening, the priests were already confused with what the monks were doing. Why would the monks collect money from those who just had their houses burnt?

After the collection, the monks told the evacuees that the money they collected will be used in buying goods for other people who are in need, probably people who are in a worse situation than that of the evacuees. True enough, nobody is too poor to give. Even those who are in dire need are still able to extend help to others.

Even when we do not have money or any material object, we can still give. After Ondoy left many people homeless, those who extended help are not only limited to those who gave money and other goods for the victims. Those who had nothing to donate had the opportunity to give by offering their time in volunteer work. Their God-given abilities to clean, to repack goods and to distribute them were all they needed to say that they have truly given. In short, they had nothing to give but themselves.

The woman in the Gospel teaches us the value of giving ourselves to God. We all belong to God and we should offer ourselves only to Him. The greatest gift we can ever give Him is ourselves, not the things we possess, because it is us that He loves and longs for.

Our daily living should become an offering to God. We don't need to become priests or lay servants to say that we are offering ourselves to Him. We don't even need to become martyrs. No, not necessarily. We just need to offer everything we do for Him, even if it's not a church-related work. When we offer our daily lives to Him, we become a pleasing offering. We become stronger against temptation. We become truly His.

The widow's offering is a measly amount, but it was the greatest gift to God. Similarly, we are nothing before God, but we can offer Him nothing better than our selves.