18 Oct Friday

I contend that there are very few Catholics who actually pray. Now the statement should set off a storm of protest. I am being serious. Most are petitioning God for something or for someone, and while that is well and good, it is a very minor kind of prayer.

It seems that when the gospels refer to prayer, the authors are remembering the long, lonely, and intense nights of Jesus in prayer, kperfet union with the Father. This is the sort of persistence, endurance, and patience in prayer of this and next Sunday’s Gospel reading. One thinks of the Camoldolese, Carthusians, and Cistercians to come close to this prayer. Or Theresa of Avila..

Talk about remaining faithful to what we hav learned. It is then out of this fidelity, out of this prayer, that one has the courage to proclaim the Word, because this Word is very inconvenient in our culture today. Are us homilists up to the work?