Dependent on God through prayer

January 14, 2015
Wednesday,
1st Week in Ordinary Time
1st Reading:
Heb 2:14-18
Gospel: Mk 1:29–39

As soon as Jesus and his disciples left the synagogue, Jesus went to the home of Simon and Andrew with James and John. As Simon’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with fever, they immediately told him about her. Jesus went to her and taking her by the hand, raised her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them. That evening at sundown, people brought to Jesus all the sick and those who had evil spirits: the whole town was pressing around the door. Jesus healed many who had various diseases, and drove out many demons; but he did not let them speak, for they knew who he was.

Very early in the morning, before daylight, Jesus went off to a lonely place where he prayed. Simon and the others went out, too, searching for him; and when they found him they said, “Everyone is looking for you.” Then Jesus answered, “Let’s go to the nearby villages so that I may preach there too; for that is why I came.”

So Jesus set out to preach in all the synagogues throughout Galilee; he also cast out demons.

D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)

Jesus began his day with a prayer (Mark 1:35). As followers of Jesus we should do the same. The popular excuse of not praying is that God “already knows our needs” (Matthew 6:8). Yes, it is true that God already knows what we need even before we realize it ourselves. But the fact that God already knows our needs before we ask him is a call to shift from mendicant prayer to transformative prayer. Mendicant prayer is reminding God persistently of our needs; transformative prayer aligns us to God’s Will – the God who already knows our needs. It is very easy to distinguish one from the other. The former seeks to align God’s Will to ours, while the later adopts Mary’s prayer whose prayer was: “Be it done unto me according to your word.”

Transformative prayer is one that does not inform God of our needs but deepens our awareness and appreciation of the great privilege of having a God to call upon. Transformative prayer disposes us to receiving God’s grace the way God wants it. If God were to give us automatically what we need, would we attribute to him graces sent by Him in answer to our needs? Only prayer makes us understand that we are in a helpless situation. And when God bails us out of the crisis, only prayer leads us to heartfelt gratitude to God and to no other. Such prayer transforms us into grateful dependents of God as we draw strength from no other but Him. – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.frdan.org.
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