February 12th 2012

Continuing in our thoughts about prayer, let us remember that Jesus taught us to pray “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.”  Ultimately all we should ask for is just that, the coming of his kingdom. The wonderful thing is that we can add beginning with me. We can actually be part of his glorious kingdom. This also should be our ultimate goal as we pray for our loved ones, even our wayward ones.

When St. Paul prayed for the people in the church at Ephesus, the key words were that they might be given a spirit of wisdom and revelation as they come to know the Father and the hope to which he has called them. Paul could have asked that they have good health and prosper, become leaders in the community etc. There would be nothing wrong with that. But he knew that there was far more awaiting them – a place in the Father’s kingdom. We can ask for anything we feel we need but as Jesus said, “the Father knows you have needed these things”. A child walking with a parent does not keep asking for protection and guidance. They are happy to walk confidently, holding a strong loving hand.  Prayer is not just asking him. It is being with him.

The most agonizing prayer in history came from the Garden of Gesthemane when Jesus begged that the suffering he was facing might be taken from him. Almost in the same breath, he capitulates with “nevertheless, thy will be done” Through the following hours of humiliation and suffering, he was upheld by his Father. St. Matthew and St. Mark’s gospels record his cry from the cross “why have you forsaken me”. Had he briefly lost his grasp of his Father’s hand? Down the years, scholars have pondered this. Then St. Luke records his words “Father into your hands I commend my spirit”. Those hands were always there.