Psalm Reflection: The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary & Joseph (Cycle B)

If your parish elects to do Psalm 128 instead, see our Psalm Reflection post from November 10th, 2020: https://www.mannafoodforthought.com/blog/2020/11/10/psalm-reflection-the-thirty-third-sunday-in-ordinary-time-cycle-a 

“The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.” - Psalm 105

My life is held together by iced tea, spreadsheets and to-do lists. I need them every day to keep me motivated and remind me of what the heck I am doing with my life. Otherwise, I will forget.

God does not forget. He is faithful to every single promise He has ever made regardless of the failure of the other party. He does not need to be reminded to keep breathe in your lungs, to work for your good, to love you and to pursue you all the days of your life. He will do it whether you ask Him to or not. Whether you receive it and allow Him to transform your life or not is another story.

I say this because I feel like a lot of what we do in prayer is trying to make up for the fact that we have forgotten these things about God, or we do not believe them in the first place. We repeat requests as if they will soften God’s hardened heart, or to remind Him of what we need in case His all-knowing mind forgot we asked for it yesterday. We dutifully say the same prayers every day like they are investments in a salvation account, without realizing the balance is already endless because Jesus made the eternal deposit of His life for us.

Prayer is not about earning God’s favor, changing His mind, or bending His will. Prayer does not change God. Prayer changes US. 

The Parable of the Persistent Widow in Luke 18 makes us mistakenly believe that if we ask for something over and over again, or if we are holy enough, God will give us whatever we want. That is not what this parable and other similar Scripture passages are about. The widow is not asking for anything specific, she is simply persisting asking a corrupt judge for justice. Justice is a virtue and it is obviously something God already wants and desires to grant us. If a corrupt judge will bend their will to what is right out of persistence, God will even more so work for good and virtue in our lives and out of our persistence and discipline we will be primed for it to take even deeper root in our hearts. This parable is not about bending God’s will, but persistently confirming our will to His so we will begin to notice how He is constantly working for our good.

This is why prayer is so much more about listening, silence, solitude and pondering than any formula, question, petition or rubric. In Spiritual Direction by Henri Nouwen, he makes this distinction between being a person of prayer, and a person of prayerfulness. 

Which one are you?

Is your prayer life a to-do list of things to do, novenas to say, and daily devotions to check off the list? Or are you a person who is persistently pursuing the reign of God in your life through a deeper relationship each day? 

God remembers His covenants, He does not forget to work for our good. This week, do not pray like God is forgetful or like you need to pray. Pray every day because you do not need to. Pray passionately in praise of a God who is loving you and working for your good whether you ask Him to or not. Pray in thanksgiving for that relentless faithfulness we so easily forget, but that the Father of mercies pours out and remembers forever.

I am praying for you this week, please pray for me, and I will see you in the Eucharist.

Matt.