Thirtieth Sunday of Year C
October 2007
Today's theme is prayer.
1) Prayer is a meeting between a group of people with a common purpose and God.
2) Prayer is a meeting between two people (one of whom is God).
The former is what is known as community prayer. The latter is called private prayer. One could liken community prayer to a group of people going to see their local M.P. with a petition or for another particular purpose. In this type or prayer it is important that people come together as part of a community and that each one understands and agrees with the purpose of the meeting. Private agendas can disrupt the unity of this type of prayer. Community prayer needs a particular place, time and agenda. It follows a fairly fixed and familiar format. It needs to be organised.
Private prayer is a meeting between two friends or two people who wish to know each other better. There is no fixed place or time or agenda. There is no fixed mode of address or form of speech. It can be for two seconds or two hours. It can be brief moments at irregular intervals or a constant awareness of the other person.
One of the biggest problems with prayer is that I never shut up. I am so busy talking that I never listen. We have all experienced acquaintances or friends who cannot stop talking. After a short time their listeners enter a purgatorial daze. Even when taking part in community prayer, with a bit of practise, I can learn to listen.
Listening to God is dangerous. But I like my prayer life to be like a well-organised Safari through Africa's wildlife parks. There may be dangers all around but they are kept at a safe distance and each evening I return to a nice comfortable lodge. Listening to God is dangerous because if I pray properly I will become aware of suggestions entering my mind. Maybe about apologies long overdue, areas of tension in my marriage which I have not addressed, refusal to accept blame for events in my life, questions about my comfort zones, areas of selfishness which I am unwilling to explore, questions about my carefully measured 'generosity', etc. etc.
My prayer will remain unexciting for as long as I fail to listen or ignore what I hear. Why should God speak to me when I refuse to take any notice of what He says!!
Nevertheless it is good to remind myself that these suggestions have been made and rejected. At least this prevents me from thinking that my present relationship with God is adequate, and supplies plenty of scope for repentance and humility.