Pray

-


Prayer.  The sacred conversation between God and God’s breathtaking creation.  We pray in church, in times of need, to make a request, out of love, or only to become vulnerable before God.  I find that when I do not pray, I feel adrift.  When I pray, I breathe deeper, I move easier, the sense of peace is transformative.

In the movie Shadowlands, Anthony Hopkins plays C. S. Lewis and says of prayer: “I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time- waking and sleeping. It doesn't change God- it changes me.”  

The world needs prayer.  Take a moment to grasp the number of people in the world in need of our prayers.  Pick one person that you will pray for this week.  It can be someone you know or someone you don’t know.  Pray for them throughout the day, every day for a week.

A teacher, the police officer, the lady cleaning our hotel room, the waitress, a child on the playground, a prisoner in jail, the soldier away for her children, your Priest, your wife.   Pray.   That God holds them, and they sense the presence of Jesus Christ.  Share Jesus Christ with them and reaffirm in a spiritual way that they, that we are never alone.

Popular posts from this blog

Bishop Daniel Gutierrez, Diocese of Pennsylvania August 28, 2018/Nuevo Amanecer

-
Image
Es un gran honor estar aquí con mis hermanas y hermanos. Mi sangre, mi fe, mi familia. This week, your work, your prayers, this community will change the church. You are co-creators and collaborators with Jesus. The Kingdom is at hand.   One of my favorite authors is Alice Walker. One of her short stories is The Welcome Table. It tells of an elderly, nameless black woman, "the color of poor gray Georgian earth," worn down by old king cotton.  Dressed in tattered rags, she makes her way one Sunday morning "down the road toward the big white church," as the story says. A church that is pale in many ways. When she walks in, the good church folks are shocked.   The preacher reminds her pleasantly that this is not her church, "as if one could choose the wrong one." Maybe she is a bit confused and in the wrong place. She shakes her head and brushes past them all and finds a seat near the back. Inside it is very cold, colder than usual. The d
Read more

Do we look like Jesus?

-
Image
As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake I shall be satisfied, beholding your likeness. Psalm 17:15 I pray you are covered with Christ as we journey through the Holy Season of Lent. I am struggling over the lingering question: Do our churches and faith look like Jesus? Can we say yes? I am not speaking of looking like Jesus architecturally or artistically (e.g. carved in stone, Tiffany stained glass, Jesus covered in gold or European Jesus).  I wrestle with something more profound. If someone walks through our door, will they find a place where they belong? Will the person wearing dirty clothes feel they belong? Will the immigrant who does not speak English or the single mother or father with three screaming kids? Maybe that guy who smells like alcohol and needs a shave. Anyone who does not look, think, act, or talk like us. This is a time of Lenten reflection, and we all like to believe we welcome everyone.We know that despite the smiles, and the quick wave,
Read more

In the marketplace

-
Image
As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man. Proverbs 27:19 There was a woman in the Old City in Jerusalem, and she was beautiful. Perhaps 83 years old, and her head was covered in the traditional Muslim shawl. She sat on ancient, wet stone steps selling vegetables. It was cold and raining, and I sensed she knew that few of those from those foreign lands would smile, nod their head or look at her. They were too busy rushing to take a selfie at Golgotha or eager to buy that unusual gift from Jerusalem.   She was an immigrant in her own land. One of the nameless, faceless Holy Land objects. But if those who walked by took time, they would notice that her face told a story of pain and joy, hope and loss, love and death. God's hand had painted a story of life on a weathered canvas made of flesh. I was struck by humanity's fragility and the spirit's resiliency.   In my March letter, I asked if our Churches "look like Jesus?' During the followin
Read more