"Lord Teach Me How to Pray"
"Prayer is a relationship, it is the lifting of heart and mind to God."
St. John Damascene
1. False Notions in Prayer
1.1 Prayer should be exciting and intense- it is impossible, like eating, prayer is meant to respect the natural rhythms of our energy, we can't eat banquets all the time, it has a natural balance- What is needed: not new forms of prayer but rhythm, routine an established rituals
- The key is fidelity
1.2 Prayer as an Activity- schedule
- It is a relationship, with a living God who loves us, who desires to be with us, and is obsessed with us
- He initiates and sustains the relationship
- We are invited to be receptive to his initiative and to respond to the movements that occur throughout life
- Prayer as all of living-involves opening up to the Lord in all that touches us, our daily joys and pains.
- No part of our existence excludes God
- There is no part of our lives with which God is not concerned- even sin
- To think and to live in the presence of God
- Throwing the individuality far out into the sea of divine life
- Dive into it, surrender
2. False Feelings in Prayer
- WE THINK... We can pray only when we are not distracted, not angry, not emotionally or sexually preoccupied.
- WE THINK... God is like parent who wants to see us only on the best behavior, for we think that its the proper way to give reverence to God
- WE THINK... God as an authority figure or a visiting dignitary-as someone to whom we don't tell the real truth
- AS A RESULT... we find difficult to pray with any regularity
- AS A RESULT... We go to pray, privately or in church, feeling tired, preoccupied, perhaps even angry at someone
- AS A RESULT... we bracket what we are actually feeling and instead try to crank up praise, reverence, and gratitude to God
- The problem is that we do not come to God as WE REALLY ARE
- EVERY THOUGHT OF FEELING IS A VALID ENTRY INTO PRAYER
- "Ang gulo ng dasal Lord, please be with me, I' am helpless at this moment"
- Because we misunderstand prayer, we stay away from it just we most need it.
- We try to pray only when we feel.. good.... centered... reverent... and worthy of praying...
3. False Expectations in Prayer
- When we pray, we expect to become holy
- Greek: Logical, Hebrew: Experience (despite flaws)
- Our concept of holiness is like the Greek ideal: integrity
- The Greek ideal is meritorious but it has an unpleasant side: when we fall short we are discouraged, Satan is whispering that why you did not change
- "Dapat lagi tayong banal, makakamit natin iyan."- MISTAKE
- Holiness is something that we cannot attain, it is a gift
- Because of this, we find it hard to forgive ourselves and others for not being God
- Because of this, it is not easy to give others or ourselves permission to be human
- HEBREW IDEAL IS PERFECTION
- walking with God, despite imperfection.
- What God is asking is that we bring our weaknesses, imperfections and sins constantly to Him that we walk with Him and that we never hide anything with Him
IN SUM:
- In prayer, BE YOURSELF
- BE TRUE AND REAL
- YOU ARE ACCEPTABLE TO GOD
OT:
- Rituals are good if they lead you do real prayer
- Look what's really in your heart
- God does the praying
- If you are faithful, God will lead you to that state of perfection
- Praying encountering God is not a pleasant experience
- Do not pretend to be strong, to be focused
- We know that our prayers are authentic by the fruits of our prayers
(When a person, he becomes a loving person, becomes life-giving)
- When we pray before God, it is our hope that God we will enter into His Heart
- When people are into all sorts of rituals and yet our relationship with others are lacking in charity and compassion- there's something wrong
- We are celebrated the Mass where we are all accepted, where we are reminded about God, how Jesus offered himself for us for our salvation and no one is excluded for that.
- Our fruit of our prayers are our services, the good deeds, compassion and empathy should come to born of that relationship with God- it comes naturally and organic
- When we sincerely seek God, in relationship with Him, it flows into it a loving action towards others, you don't program it
- When you become the reality that you are contemplating, people will see that.
IN SUMMARY:
- In prayer, BE YOURSELF- BE TRUE AND REAL
- YOU ARE ACCEPTABLE TO GOD
