This is the third instalment of the Lent series examining the spiritual journey from the wilderness back home to God. In this video, presenter Fr Michael Tran, explores the role of prayer in the Christian life. He looks at where prayer comes from and what it means to pray from the heart. He discusses how challenging prayer can be when it feels like God isn’t answering. As we go along this Lenten journey, we are called to grow ever closer to God through prayer. Stay a while and pray.
These videos can be used as an inspirational companion series for parish groups and people undertaking a Lenten prayer journey. Continue watching the series each week of Lent to follow Fr Michael as he travels across dusty roads, sea sides and waterfalls sharing the wisdom of the Church.
Transcript
In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lord, I give you thanks for my life, for my ministry, and for everything. But please show me the way. Lord, I need you. My dear friends, prayer flows from Heaven first. And many of us like to think that prayer is somehow our idea. That if we come up with the right words or think the right thoughts, that God may give us what we want. But that is getting it backwards. Long before we ever thought to pray, God has been present with His love for us. He has cared for us without boasting and thought about us in every kindness. We owe everything to God, our lives, our thoughts, and our relationships. Prayer must be our answer to these beautiful gifts from God. St Therese of the Little Flower said prayer was a burst from the heart. A simple glance thrown toward Heaven. And a cry of thanksgiving and love in times of trial as well as in times of joy. And one of the great struggles in prayer is how quiet God can sound to us. We want to hear Him speak the way we speak. We wait for a feeling, a sign, or a lightning bolt. We worry that if we don’t feel something, God isn’t listening. But, my dear friends, faith isn’t a feeling, it is a commitment. Like the water hitting these rocks. Shaping them. Prayer is often about the steady, and quiet persistence of an answer in love. It is not about changing God’s mind or receiving a miracle. It is about letting God’s love change us. So my dear friends, don’t worry about the words. Don’t worry if your mind wanders. Just show up. God is already there, waiting for you and I, to notice Him.