Month: February 2024

Teach Us To Pray

Delivered 

Smitten With Goodness
Season of goodness in prayer

We are all familiar with temptation, that desire from within that invites us to act, contrary to what we know to be right. We are called to seek God‘s guidance and strength to persevere against temptation, for God does not tempt us. Rather, he offers us the ability to resist the temptation to grow in holiness. We are called to be pure of heart, and when we walk with God at our side, we are more easily able to achieve that goal. We are delivered. What are the things that tempt you? Ask for God’s help to identify and persevere against them.

God of all understanding, you are our source of strength and perseverance, in the midst of trials and Temptations. You lead us not in temptation, but deliver us from evil. Protect us oh, Lord, from fear and doubt, from sadness, and a spare, from isolation and loneliness, from trials, and temptations, from persecution, weariness us, the tendency to give up, apathy, pain and hardship, sickness and death. Help us recognize you are by our side, offering compassion and assistance, so that we may overcome the wearisome burdens. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen 

Teach Us To Pray

Baby Steps

Smitten With Goodness
Season of goodness in prayer

Little by little, we can make our daily life more and more prayerful.  Over time, we can incorporate those suggestions that work with our schedule and that we are ready for spiritually. 

There is a particular spiritual practice that Francis de Sales highly recommends that is possible for all of us: even on those ‘impossible’ days when we are perhaps unable to undertake our normal spiritual practices, we can stay rooted in prayer by constantly addressing brief prayers to the Lord. These can be acts of love, of adoration, of faith, of hope, of petition, or simply saying the name of Jesus—throughout the course of the day. 

God, I seek you and my soul thirsts for you as if I’m in the desert.  I have seen you, Holy One, in your power and glory. Your steadfast love is better than life itself and I praise you, with my body, mind, and soul. I will bless you as long as I have breath within me. I lift my heart up to you and call You Holy. Amen

Teach Us To Pray

Here I Am

Smitten With Goodness
Season of goodness in prayer

How delighted God must be when we simply surrender our hearts enough to say “Here I Am, Lord.” No agenda, no request, no expectations, nothing but an openness to be with our Lord.

This is true and right praise, the justice God requires of us. True surrender is to orient our hearts enough to let go and let God lead us to where he wants to lead. We glorify God with sweet such words.

Here I am Lord.

Teach Us To Pray

Repetition Is A Good Thing

Smitten With Goodness
Season of goodness in prayer

Why do we as Catholics always pray the rosary and repeat traditional prayers? Repetition can have real meaning and it is the repetition of life.  We can certainly pray spontaneously from the heart, expressing ourselves to God but we can also feel free to pick up prayers that were written by great men and women from our past.  They can actually give us words to pray and can inspire the prayers of our heart. 

This is how we are to pray, from the heart, we are not to babble.  Babbling is when we think God can be persuaded with the right words or petitions to get what we want. We don’t use prayer to manipulate God; we keep it simple and understand that it is a familial relationship between us and our Heavenly Father.  Afterall, Jesus taught us how to pray.

In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. This is how you are to pray: ‘Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’ If you forgive men their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions. Matthew 6:7-15.

Lord, I am aware that you know what is best for me, and that is why I believe in you. You are more interested in my spiritual well-being than I am, and that is why I trust in you. You always give me your loving forgiveness in spite of my sins, and that is why I love you.

Lord, teach me how to pray.

Teach Us To Pray

Forgive to be Forgiven

Smitten With Goodness
Season of goodness in prayer

We must forgive in order to be forgiven. Jesus emphasizes the importance of forgiveness. As the First Letter of John reminds us, we are all sinners (cf. 1:8).

One of the essential characteristics of Christian life is seeking to encounter Christ’s loving mercy. We can really experience it only when we put it into practice ourselves. We can admire a person who parachutes off a plane, but we won’t understand the experience until we skydive ourselves. We grasp the true meaning of mercy when we forgive others. Our mercy will not be the same as Christ’s: He never sinned, and therefore he forgives us even though we don’t deserve it. 

If Christ has forgiven us, how can we dare not to forgive others?

Lord, teach me how to pray.

Teach Us To Pray

Father of All

Smitten With Goodness
Season of goodness in prayer

God is our loving Father. Jesus tells us that God the Father knows what we need before we ask him. Still, we should ask, because in asking we become aware that we have needs that only God our Father can grant us. We learn to ask God what we most need for our salvation. That is why Jesus taught us the “Our Father.” 

Praying the “Our Father” reminds us that he is the father of all, and therefore every human person is truly our brother or sister. In praying the “Our Father,” we essentially ask for three things: that God has the first place in our lives, that he gives us our material and spiritual sustenance, and that he grants us his forgiveness.

Lord, teach me how to pray.

Teach Us To Pray

The Fruit of Silence

Smitten With Goodness
Season of goodness in prayer

Prayer is the fruit of silence. Some people like to talk. They demand to be listened to, but they don’t have the same interest in listening. However, you usually can’t listen if you aren’t used to silence. St. Teresa of Calcutta once wrote that prayer is the fruit of silence. 

Jesus wants us to understand that prayer is more about listening than about talking. When you are with someone who knows much about a topic that interests you, you limit yourself to asking questions and dedicate yourself to listening. Jesus is the revealer of God the Father. That means our main interest in prayer should be asking Jesus, Our Lord, about his Father and then dedicating ourselves to listening.

Lord, teach me how to pray.

Teach Us To Pray

Closer to God

Smitten With Goodness
Season of goodness in prayer

Jesus, the master of the universe, wants to  listen to us and guide us on the path of peace. Knowing all things past, present and future, we have our freedom to choose the type of relationship we want to have.  Do you want a superficial one or one that is deep and full of peace. 

He is there waiting to teach us through the “Our Father” to pray more deeply. Today let’s pray our traditional prayers with special attention and with the conviction that they will instruct and change us in a way that leads closer to God.

Jesus, too often I rattle off my prayers without thinking about the attitudes they contain. I want to get the full benefit of all the prayers I say every day. I want to pray these prayers more often, especially the “Our Father,” since it is the prayer that you yourself taught me.

Teach Us To Pray

Eternal Understanding

Smitten With Goodness
Season of goodness in prayer

Traditional prayers fight off the attitudes of the world.

Our conversion to Christ is a change of attitudes from those of the world to those of a Christian. Every day, the world proposes its attitudes as something good that should be lived. But often what the world proposes as good is actually harmful to us. 

How do we resist? By constantly repeating to myself and meditating on Christian attitudes. We need to develop an eternal understanding. 

This is what can happen in using traditional prayers. It is a way of helping our heart understand and embrace the Christianity we profess. The Christian who disdains traditional prayers is rejecting a powerful tool of conversion.

Lord, teach me to through the “Our Father” to pray more deeply.

Teach Us To Pray

Learning To Love

Smitten With Goodness
Season of goodness in prayer

Traditional Prayers Can Change The Heart and Draw It to God.

When I first turned to the Lord, I had a lot to work on. Most people do. I didn’t love the way I should have. I was flawed in many other ways.

One of the things that helped me was the “Our Father” as well as other traditional prayers. When we first come to the Lord, we don’t know how Christians should think, what attitudes a Christian should hold. When we pray the “Our Father” from the heart, it helps our heart to change, to become more Christ-like.

It takes only a moment to pray an “Our Father,” but from time to time, we should meditate on the words. Say each phrase and repeat it, not moving on to the next phrase until we feel that we have really gotten to the bottom of what it is saying.

Lord, teach me through the “Our Father” to pray more deeply.