The third part of a five-part series on building a life of prayer by by Father Francis Martin, S.S.D.
Jesus Teaches Us how to Pray — Abba! Continued.
Every human being is called to have a divine affection for God, to love God. You sometimes hear people out in the streets say, “are you saved?” That’s a great question, but does anyone ever ask, “do you love God?” Wouldn’t that be great if we spoke to one another this way. “Hey, do you love God?” and have somebody answer, “you bet I do. I really love God.” This is not something that we do, it is a work of God, it is a work of the Spirit of God in us. We can really know that we love God and this is why we want His name to be held holy, this is why we want His kingdom to come.
When Jesus finished teaching his disciples about prayer, he told them another parable:
If one of you knows someone who comes to him in the middle of the night
and says to him, “friend, lend me three loaves for a friend of mine has come from a journey and I’ve nothing to offer him,” and from the inside he should reply, “leave me alone, the door is shut now and my children and I are in be. I cannot get up to look after your needs.” I tell you, even though he does not get up and take care of the man because of friendship, he will do so because of his persistence, and give him as much as he needs. (Luke 11:5–8)
And so the Lord says, when you pray, never quit. Now we know that is hard, don’t we? We talk about penance, asceticism, discipline, and we forget that the basic discipline is to stay in communication with God. There is so much laziness, pride, distractions, and worldly desires in us. And all these things serve to distract us, to push us from prayer, because prayer is that attitude of total submission to God: I love you God, and I just want to be Your servant. Our first ministry is to the Lord. First, we must wait on the Lord. The Lord must be satisfied. To persevere in this attitude is the foundation for all true prayer.
Nowadays, we Christians are in a crisis. The gospel is not being preached with assurance and so people are not paying attention to it. If we add up all the Christians in the world, we are one-fourth of the world’s population. But to how many of us is that just a social denomination? Does it really mean we know Jesus? Does it really mean that like Paul all I want is to know Christ and the power of his resurrection? To share in His sufferings and be conformed to his death so that I can arrive at resurrection from the dead? This is what it is to be a Christian. Or have we made a mistake? Do we think that a Christian is a moral man, a good citizen, somebody who keeps all the laws, who does the right thing? Of course, this is a part of a good Christian life, but the heart of being a good Christian is to know that you have been saved by Jesus Christ. That is the heart of it, and out of this awareness we are to live every day, to know the Lord and to communicate with the Lord, to interact with the Lord, to worship God, to minister to Him, to make sure that the Lord is satisfied.
But today, there is very little in our culture that would help us think this way. It’s a big job for us to think of God. Oh if we hurt, if one of the kids is in trouble, if we might lose a job—then we think of God. But do we think of God all day? Are we aware of God? Do we seek God? It’s a big deal. How many people, even when they talk about praying mean going through a certain ceremony but not being in contact with the living God? When we leave our prayer, if somebody asks, “were you in contact with God,” we should be able to say “yes” or “no,” but not “I think so, I guess so; I feel pretty good, so I guess so.” How little of our heritage we have entered into when we have to say, “I guess so.” What I am talking about is God’s will for your life—whoever you are—that you will know God even in this life. You will know Jesus Christ. You will love Him. You will know when He speaks to you. You will know the power of the Spirit of God within you, moving you to prayer, moving you to power, moving you to have authority over your life.
Father Francis Martin lives in Gaithersburg, Maryland. He is Professor of Biblical Studies at the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family in Washington, D.C.
(c) The California Mission