7th Sunday After Easter
5-24-20
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Years ago, there was a play on Broadway
called the “Great God Brown” and in one scene; a man was on his
deathbed. He was very frightened but his mother was at his side. She
spoke to him as though he were a child. She said to him, “Go to sleep,
Billy, it will be all right.” Billy starts to tell her about his life.
He says, “It was dark and I couldn’t see where I was going. I had to
take the drugs, because they were all picking on me.”
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His mother replied, “I know, but you are
tired now. Just go to sleep.” He answered, “Will I wake up?” She says,
“Yes, and the sun will be rising.” Billy interrupts and says “to judge,
the living and the dead.” Then in great fear, he added, “I do not want
justice, I want love.” To this his mother says, “There is only love.”
Then Billy says the only prayer he knows, which is “The Our Father.” We hear a great deal about prayer in the gospel today.
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In fact, the whole gospel is a prayer. It is
the longest prayer in the Bible. In our first reading from the Acts of
the Apostles, we are told that the Apostles are in constant prayer. All
the polls tell us that most people in the U.S. pray. What Billy shows us
is that prayer originates in our concept of God. How you see God
affects the way you pray. If God is a taskmaster filled with vengeance,
someone who is just waiting for you to mess up, then prayer may be
difficult.
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But, if you see God as a friend, and loving
Father, then it will be easy to pray. If you want a relationship with
God, you have to pray. You cannot have a relationship with anyone unless
you communicate with them. Prayer is communication with God. Billy
could not pray while he saw God as a judge.
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It was only when his mother told him that
God is love; waiting for us to return to Him, could he relax and say
“Our Father.” One woman I know has a very busy schedule as well as three
children. Her husband has multiple sclerosis; she says the only way I
cope is through prayer. I suspect it is the same with many people. You
may often despair and ask what does it mean? You are being disappointed,
what does it mean? You are fired from your job, what does it mean?
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What does it mean to be alienated from your
family? To be divorced; to be told of this terrible sickness you have to
carry; to come to terms to put a parent in a nursing home. What does
all this terribleness mean? My child is on drugs, my family is breaking
up? These are tragedies that many of us have to face and the only way to
come to terms with them is through prayer.
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That is one of the reasons we come together
every week - to support and pray for each other. Prayer is not just a
personal matter. There will always be time when we pray for our own
needs. But our prayers must also include those around us, even those we
do not know. That is why we say, Our Father and not My Father. Often we
try to make our prayers productive, it has to produce something or we
try to change God’s mind. Ideally, just place yourself in God’s
presence. Open yourself to Him, be receptive and let Him change you.
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Private prayer is so important. Jesus showed
this when He himself went off alone to pray. He knew what to do. He
drew strength and regeneration from periods of private prayer. His
disciples observed this and reached out to Him saying, “Lord, teach us
how to pray.” Perhaps, we all need to ask the Lord, “Lord teach us how
to pray.”
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Teach us how to pray to find a deep sense of
peace and wholeness. Teach us to pray from the heart; teach us how to
pray when we feel far from any shore; far from any person; adrift
without a sense of direction. Teach us to pray when we are overwhelmed
with day-to-day living. Teach us to pray when we are feeling great, when
we are joyful and everything is going well.
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Teach us how to pray when we are celebrating
and when we are growing. But, above all, and in all situations when it
is convenient and inconvenient; in season and out of season; for God’s
sake Lord, “Teach us how to pray.”
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