16th
Sunday in Ordinary Time
Cycle C
July 21, 2013 7:30
and 9:00am
Saint
Margaret Parish, Bel Air
A Way of Praying
This
morning, I want to share with you a way of praying.
We
often talk about the importance of prayer.
Each of us knows by heart some prayers that we have learned, like the Our Father or the Hail Mary.
Today,
I want to share with you not another prayer, but a way or pattern for praying
personally. This way finds its origin in
Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits.
It has
five parts or steps. They are outlined
on the handout that you were given as you entered church and you might want to
follow along as I lead us through this.
Thanksgiving
First,
it is good to begin our prayer with Thanksgiving.
Each
day it is important each day to thank God not just in general, but for someone
or something specific. It might be our
health, a family member, a doctor, our job, our home, and on it goes.
When we
say thanks to God, we are being positive, recognizing the good that is in our
lives. And we are being humble,
recognizing that all that we have is ultimately a gift from God.
This positive
and humble spirit can affect all that we do throughout the day. So it is important always to begin our prayer
by giving thanks to God.
Enlightenment
Then we
move to Enlightenment.
We all
need light or enlightenment in some way.
Maybe for our faith itself when we are doubting or confused or trying to
understand more.
Maybe
we need light when life just seems like all darkness to us and we cannot see
the end of the tunnel. After we ask God for
the enlightenment or light that we need, I recommend that we read a passage
from one of the gospels.
Read
just one section, a few verses, like today’s gospel story, then re-read it, and
just ask: what is God saying to me here?
This prayer for enlightenment is important for our relationship with God
and for us personally.
Review
Then we
move to Review.
The
idea here is to look back and see how God came to me yesterday. Maybe God came in an unexpected kind word.
Maybe
God came to me in a respectful, caring confrontation about something I have
done. Maybe God came in the sunshine or
flowers.
Maybe
God came in the Eucharist where I really felt God’s closeness. So, review, look back to see how God came to
me yesterday.
Repent
Then we
move to Repent.
The
issue here is: where have I fallen short of the gospel? Have I offended others by something I said or
by how I said it?
Have I
used well the gifts and opportunities God has given me? What pops up as something I feel guilty for
doing?
Or what
pops up as something good that I could have done but failed to do? So, how do I need to repent and live the
gospel more fully?
Resolve
And
finally, we come to Resolve.
This
can flow right from Repent. So we might
resolve to count to ten and get hold of our temper or foul language.
You
might resolve to really be there for your children and take in what is going on
in their lives. We might resolve to take
the initiative to try to clear up some antagonism between myself and another
person.
We
might resolve to seek advice or counseling for a problem that just will not go
away. So, we end our prayer with a
resolve on what we need to do this day.
Conclusion
In today’s gospel, a woman named Mary is sitting at Jesus’
feet listening, and her sister Martha is anxious and preoccupied about all the
details of the meal.
Jesus says that Mary “has
chosen the better part.” Here Jesus
is not saying that it is better just to focus on him or better to pray than to tend
to the necessities of life.
He is saying that it is better to make sure that we do
pray so that our prayer will influence how we do all the stuff we have to
do. We need this grounding in our
relationship with God, and the way of praying I recommend today is one way of
doing that.
