REFLECTION ON PRAYER BY DEACON BILL

Persistence in prayer is important, says the Lord in today’s Gospel.  The key to the text is that the father knows what is “good” for his child. When we make our prayers to our Father in heaven we should keep in mind that He knows what is good for His children as well.  Sometimes, when we pray for some certain thing and God does not seem to be answering our prayers, we may become anxious and question if God does  really answer us.  We should be mindful of the fact that God does, indeed know what we need more than we do.  We do well to remember that God created us for a single purpose, for ever lasting life with Him in heaven.  Knowing this we may understand that God may allow some perceived “need” to go unfulfilled for a bit longer than we would like to teach us patience.  Or a prayer might be answered in a way we do not expect in order to conform our will to that of Himself, for our greater good.  It really is best summed up in the Lords prayer where we say, Father you are the source of all that is holy and we hope that your kingdom come soon, we ask you to give us what we really need as an individual and a community, be merciful to us in as much as we demonstrate mercy to others and do not allow us to be tested beyond the grace that you provide us to endure.          Amen.
                                                                           Deacon Bill Watzek