Gospel Reflection 2021/2022
God is not a “fairy godmother”; and prayer is not a magic wand.
We all know this all-time fairy tale: Cinderella was an unfortunate girl who was enslaved by her stepmother and two stepsisters. She was forbidden to go to the royal banquet. In her anguish, she turned to her fairy godmother for help. With her magic wand, her fairy godmother came to her assistance: she turned a pumpkin into a golden coach, mice into horses, a rat into a coachman, and lizards into footmen, and the ‘wretched clothes’ of Cinderella into beautiful dress. There, Cinderella met the prince of her life. After much drama, the story ended with the two of them getting married and living happily ever after.
In reality, life is never a fairy tale. God is definitely not a ‘fairy godmother’ who is here, at our every beck and call, to satisfy all our whims and fancies. And prayer is not a magic wand that turns everything it touches to ‘gold’. Pope Francis reminds us that “Prayer is not a magic wand: It is a dialogue with the Lord.” Christian prayer – in essence – is an encounter, a conversation, a relationship and a communion with the Lord.
God is not a vending machine; and prayer is not the coin.
Sometimes, we do treat God like an inanimate vending machine. Just like how we feed the vending machine with coins to get our desired products, we ‘force-feed’ God with our prayers to get our prayers answered. When our prayers do not obtain the favours we request, we are disappointed, distressed, depressed and disillusioned. ‘Some even stop praying because they think their petition is not heard.’ (CCC, 2734).
The reality is that we cannot bribe God. The Psalmist [Ps 51: 16-17] exclaims, “For You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; You take no pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”
God listens to the prayers that come from the heart. God does not turn away those who come to Him with sincerity and purity of heart. It is never how hard we pray that matters to God, but it is how much ‘heart’ we put into our praying.
“We worship what we DO know.” [Jn 4: 22]
At Jacob's well, Jesus told the Samaritan woman [Jn 4: 22-23], “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we DO know, for salvation is from the Jews. But a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him.”
God is our FATHER.
Jesus is our BROTHER.
We worship what we DO know.
From the burning bush, God called out to Moses [Ex 3: 5], “Do not come near; put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” There, separating God and human was a threshold of divine holiness. It was Jesus – fully God and fully man – who has crossed that threshold and brought us into the Father’s presence. Together with the Holy Spirit, Jesus has revealed to us that God is indeed our Father and we are His children. Through Him, with Him and in Him, we dare to cry out to God, “Abba, Father!” [cf. CCC, 2777]
Because God is our FATHER,
and Jesus, our BROTHER,
we come before God
– not as servants, slaves, or beggars –
but as God’s beloved sons and daughters.
God always hears and answers our prayers.
God always listens to our prayers, regardless of how short or how simple they may seem.
God, being the loving and merciful Father, does not sabotage or seek to destroy us. God the Father will always give His best to us. He will not give us stone when we ask for bread. Neither will He hand us a snake when we ask for a fish. [cf. Mt 7: 9-10]
God always hears and answers prayers: “NO” and “WAIT” are the possible answers from God as well. He is our Father: He will surely and certainly give us what we need, but not what we want.
✝️ Sometimes, God may say “YES” to our prayers.
✝️ Other times, God may say “NO”. It is possible that what we pray for is not God’s will for us – God wills something better or greater for us. Or perhaps it is because we pray with wrong intentions or for wrong things – what we ask for might not be good for us, or worst still, they may be harmful to us.
✝️ And some other times, God may say “WAIT”. Perhaps it is not the right timing; or perhaps, He wants us to learn the virtues of patience and obedience.
Above all else, God is MOST concerned of our ultimate good, i.e., the salvation of our souls. God always gives us what is conducive to the achievement of this ultimate good.
Ask. Search. Knock.
How then should we approach God in prayers?
St Paul [1 Th 5: 17-19] advises, “Pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit.”
✝️ PRAY HARD: Pray without ceasing.
Like Abraham pleading with God (Gn 18: 20-32), the persistent friend in the Gospel this Sunday (Lk 11: 4-8) or the importunate widow (Lk 18: 1–8), our prayers must be consistent and persistent. Pray hard, pray without ceasing because ‘ask, and it will be given; search, and we will find; knock, and the door will be opened to us’ [Lk 11: 9-10]. God our Father will be delighted and draw us to Himself if we come consistently and persistently to Him in prayer.
✝️ PRAY WITH HEART.
We pray with faith, and in God we trust. We pray with humble and contrite hearts. We come before God with broken hearts and broken spirits.
In all circumstance, let us remain ‘joyful in hope, patient in tribulations, and constant in prayer’ [Rm 12: 12]. We know very well that God will not abandon us, He will not leave us orphans, and He will never turn away those who come to Him with sincerity and purity of heart.
✝️ PRAY WITH THE HEART OF JESUS.
Praying with the Heart of Jesus is to pray alongside with Jesus to learn from Him and to know and do God’s will. God’s will for us is in Jesus Christ; and in His will is our peace. Therefore, it is essentially important to pray and do God’s holy will; and we on our part must always strive to bend our will to God’s will. Like Jesus, may we have the faith and courage to pray, “Not my will but yours be done. [Mk 14: 36 | Lk 22: 42]”; and like Mary, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word. [Lk 1: 38]”
✝️ PRAY FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT.
“How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” [Lk 11: 13]
“Quench not the Holy Spirit!” [1 Th 5: 19]
The heavenly Father always gives His best to us; He gives us His Son our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit that we ‘may be conformed to Christ in the Holy Sprit to the glory of God the Father.’ [CCC 2558]
What more should we ask?
What more do we need?
How else should we pray?
The answer can be found in the perfect prayer that our Lord Jesus has taught us – THE LORD’S PRAYER: OUR FATHER! Let us rediscover this simple yet profound prayer that the Lord has entrusted to us and to His Church. With great faith, may we be always ‘joyful in hope, patient in tribulations, and constant in prayer’ [Rm 12: 12].
Let our fervent prayer be:
“Lord Jesus Christ, teach us to pray with Your Heart and in the Spirit.”
Let us also pray with and pray for Ukraine that:
“The weapons of war be silenced, the evil of the aggressors be stopped, and those who hold the fate of the world in their hands may spare us from the horror and madness of war.”