Fr. Bill's Weekly Message for 10/18/98

Dear Parishioners,
St. Bernard was riding on his horse one day, lost in prayer. He met a beggar on the road and engaged in conversation with him. The beggar asked Bernard what he was doing as he went along, and Bernard said he was praying.
"But I often have distractions in my prayer," Bernard confessed.
"Oh, well, I never have distractions when I pray," the beggar said.
"That's nice," said St. Bernard. "I'll give you this horse if you can say an 'Our Father' without once being distracted."
"Oh that's easy," the beggar said, and he began to pray. "Our Father, who art in heaven; hallowed be Thy name ..." The beggar paused. "Say, does the saddle come with the horse?"

I guess all of us have distractions when we pray. Some get so distracted that they try to limit Mass time to as little as possible [come as late and leave as early]. Some handle the distractions by praying little. Some pray for very short periods at a time. Some only pray by rote.
We must not allow ourselves to get discouraged by these distractions. They are a natural part of our lives. Our minds wander because of cares, worries, weakness, weariness, etc. We will never, in this life anyway, get to the point of complete and total concentration.
We need to work through these things and persevere in prayer. God will not reject you and me because we are distracted. Don't lose heart because you are distracted. God understands. In the supernatural life some actions are done once and for ever, e.g. Baptism, Holy Orders, and Confirmation.
But prayer is one of those actions which must be repeated over and over again. Praying always and never losing heart (Lk. 18:1) is a sign of faith in God our Father. Jesus expresses His hope and desire that we be these faith filled servants when He asks, "But when the Son of Man comes, will He find any faith on earth?" (Lk.18:8).
If we allow the distractions to win, we will not have this faith of the little child who believes in the goodness and power of the Father. We will have put our "faith" in the technologies of this world, in the stock market, IRA's, and other vehicles we can see.
Let us pray first of all to see if what we pray for is truly what God wants for me. How does praying for a new home, help in passing a test, etc. bring about the will of God for me, my family, my Church, et al? How can these things get me closer to God?
We all desire God. We all want to be happy with Him in the fullness of the Kingdom. I know that all who read this have a vested interest in prayer. We can never be unhuman in our lives, but we also never have to be only human. God's grace will be with us and His Holy Spirit will lead us through the distractions of our lives.
Let us be like the woman in the Gospel today and never lose hope.

God bless,


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