Are we ready to wait for God's time, season?
Reflection
Dear sisters and brothers,
We are in lockdown for the last few months. Covid-19 hunts us and ruins our lives. Are we not frustrated with God? Are we not upset with God? We question: why did God bring this pandemic into the world? I am not able to attend my community prayer. I am not able to connect with my friends in celebrations, and I am not able to see my beloved ones on their final days on this earth. We ask: what is the use of prayer? I am isolated. I am quarantined. God didn’t come. Will God come in future?
We may have many more questions in our mind. However, we need to understand that the Israelites too were in the same situation when they were in Egypt, when they were in wilderness, when they were in slavery and when they were scattered after the Roman’s invasion.
Nevertheless, they kept their faith. God brought them together once again as a community.
Faith is kept up when we pray.
Prayer is an essential part of our faith.
Without prayer, we are nothing.
We pray practically for everything in our lives.
I would like to reflect with you all what prayer is for me. I am sure that it will touch your heart and life too.
What is prayer?
Prayer is an intimate conversation between God and an individual in a silent place and in a quiet time.
We read in the scripture and we have number of references to a silent place and for a quiet time.
Reference to the Mountain:
In those days, Jesus went out to the mountain to pray, and He spent the night in prayer to God (Luke 6:12).
After He had sent them away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray (Matthew 14:23).
About eight days after Jesus had said these things, He took with Him Peter, John, and James, and went up on a mountain to pray (Luke 9:28).
Reference to the Wilderness:
Yet He frequently withdrew to the wilderness to pray (Luke 5:16).
Reference to the Morning:
Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up and slipped out to a solitary place to pray (Mark 1:35).
At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place, and the crowds were looking for Him (Luke 4:42).
Some people say that oral prayer is the best one.
Some others say that silent prayer is the best one.
I would like to say that oral prayer is important in the initial stage of our lives when we learn to pray. It is like we learn ABCD…in the initial stage of our schooling then we slowly start to read and go ahead with our graduation, masters, and doctorate. Likewise, oral stage is an initial stage, and as we grow in our spiritual life or prayer life we learn to be with the Lord Jesus Christ in silence as he did with his Father all the time, whether we are in isolation or quarantined or in lockdown.
How many types of prayer are there?
There are so many of them. We learn all types of prayer but we discover our own type, that with which we feel comfortable to be intimate with the Lord Jesus Christ in our everyday life.
What are the answers for our prayer?
We get three answers for our prayer.
What are they?
1. Yes.
God says yes to our prayer at once and immediate. We pray and we get the answer instantly.
2. No.
God says no to our prayer.
Jesus prayed to his Father in Gethsemane to remove his bitter cup. God, the Father kept silent. We have salvation today.
Saint Monica prayed for her son, Saint Augustine that he should not go to Rome. But he went and was converted by the Spirit. He was baptised by Saint Ambrose. He left his past and followed Christ Jesus ardently. If God would have said yes to Saint Monica, we would not have got Saint Augustine.
3. Wait.
Wait is the beautiful answer to all of us. We want that our prayer should be answered immediately. We do not like the answer ‘No’ to our prayers. so, waiting becomes the best answer for our prayer.
There was a king, who went for hunting often with his beloved friend to the forest. One day, there was a lion in front of the king while hunting. Before, his friend and soldiers attacked the lion, the lion attacked the king and removed his thumb finger. By then the lion was killed by his friend and soldiers. The king was in pain. His friend said that everything was good. The king was upset and ordered to put his friend in prison. At that time again, his friend said the same that everything was good.
After a few months, the king went again for hunting without his friend. He was surrounded by the forest dwellers. He was tied with the robe and taken to the altar of their god to be sacrificed. The king lost his hope. He could not do anything. Suddenly, a person from them shouted saying, “stop, stop…”
They asked for a reason and he said that he is not a complete man. He had no thumb finger. They stopped their sacrifice and released him. Then, the king remembered the voice of his friend: everything was good. The king came back and said this story to all. Then, the king realised his mistake and released his friend. His friend said: everything was good. The king asked his friend, I put you in prison but you said everything was good. Ok…I escaped because of my infirmity. But why did God put you in prison. His friend replied, if I was not in prison, I would have come with you for hunting. I would have been sacrificed for their god since I did not have any infirmities in my body. So, god kept me in prison to save me. Everything was good.
Yes, dear sister and brothers, we get the best from God when we wait for his time, for his season.
Are we ready to wait for the Lord’s time and season during the lockdown, isolation, and quarantine?
May the Heart of Jesus live in the hearts of all. Amen…
