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Fellow Parishioners
By Father Joseph Murphy | February 24, 2008
Dear Fellow Parishioners,
Father Murphy is having yet another eye surgery this week (please keep him in your prayers) so he asked me to write the letter for him.
Those of us in our parish who are involved with our Faith Formation program, Generations of Faith, are beginning to understand the importance of prayer in our lives. We have learned that prayer is a conversation with God. There are many different kinds of prayer. There is formal prayer, a prayer that has a certain form, like the Our Father or Hail Mary. There is informal prayer that has no particular form, but a prayer in which we use our own words talking to God like a friend, and that like all conversations, we must not do all the talking, but take time to listen as well. There are prayers that have no words, a lifting of the mind and heart to God, as in meditation.
There are prayers of adoration, contrition, thanksgiving, and supplication (ACTS). We have come to realize that the greatest prayer in the Catholic Church is The Mass. When we participate in The Mass, we lift voice, mind, heart, body, and soul to God, indeed, we offer our very selves to God. In The Mass we adore and praise God (”Holy, holy, holy”), we confess our sins and ask for God’s forgiveness (”I confess to Almighty God, and to you my brothers and sisters that I have sinned..”), we thank God for all the blessings that He constantly gives us,(”It is right to give you thanks and praise.”) and during the Prayers of the Faithful, the petitions, we ask God for what we need for the Church, the world, for others and for ourselves. So, you can easily see why The Mass is our greatest prayer.
During Lent we focus on the three practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. As we spend time with God in prayer, we deepen our relationship with God. There’s nothing tricky about prayer. It is simply tuning in to God’s presence, and God is always present, not simply alongside us, bet within us at the deepest part of who we are. So, when we pray, not only do we get to know God better, we begin to learn about our true selves. As we pray we become more aware of who we truly are: sons and daughters of God, made in His image.
Prayer is so powerful. As Scripture says, “More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.” When we pray, we not only strengthen our relationship with God and ourselves, we also begin to heal our relationships with others, for another aspect of prayer is that it allows us to cut through the barriers that separate us from one another.
This week let’s all spend some extra time in prayer. There are so many ways to pray. Use words if you wish, but you can just sit quietly with God. You can pray anywhere, anytime: driving to work, washing the dishes, waiting in line… simply turn your thoughts to the loving God who made you.
Remember the most important thing about prayer is that you PRACTICE! PRACTICE! PRACTICE!
Blessings,
Karen McMahon
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