+In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit +

Eternal God,
You are gracious and glorious, and all creation gives You thanks!
Help us to always walk in the light of Your truth.

Divine Physician,
Heal our hardness of heart.
Heal our spiritual blindness.
Heal our spiritual laziness and lukewarmness.
We ask, LORD, for the grace to recognize You working in our lives.
We ask, LORD, for the grace of awareness of Your presence in this
Holy Eucharist, that we may always be worthy to receive You.
Remain with us, LORD; in the powerful name of Jesus, we pray.
Amen.

+In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit +

 

To Pray or Not to Pray 

When we tell someone, "I'll pray for you" or "You're in my prayers" are we praying for them or just saying something nice? 

Surveys show that only about 15% of any given faith community has a rich prayer life. The other 85% are just speaking words. 

Secularism has, over time, killed prayer meetings and some prayer ministries have difficulties due to an apparent feeling of not needing prayer or prayers not being "answered". There is also a feeling that the spiritual world is an illusion. During the so-called Enlightenment, Emmanuel Kant called prayer "a superstitious delusion that God has no need to hear and therefore accomplishes nothing." From a secular perspective, ignoring God is far more effective than denying His existence. If you ignore Him, He disappears. 

Now, modern agnostics are not just unsure of Gods existence; they just don't care. 

If prayer is relegated to feelings, it becomes. therapy. But, 

But, if you're continually told that God is distant and uncaring; after years of hearing this over and over, you begin to believe it. 

When a prayerless church combines with a prayerless culture, it creates a "feelings" world where God is praised at a distance. When hardship comes, God feels uncaring and distant. We will hear sermons on prayer, listen to prayer in church begin and end meetings with prayer, but otherwise, it feels too religious. Have we lost our spirituality? 

There is nothing worse than a faith community looking spiritual on the outside but being hollow on the inside. 

Jesus calls this hypocrisy. [Matthew 6:5-6] 

So what? First we need to reacquire our own sense of sincerity. Instead of lying about praying, do it. If you need help with prayer, get it. Join the prayer group. Learn how valuable prayer really is. God didn't give the ability to pray only to certain people. He gave it to everyone and everyone is in need of prayer. Prayer helps us establish a relationship with God. The importance of prayer can never be underestimated and the miracles from prayer diminished. Prayer is conversing with God. He wants us to talk to Him; to tell Him everything. Confide in our "Papa." 

PRAY! PRAY! PRAY! 

A copy of this week's bulletin can also be found on our parish website on the home page.

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