“As I make my prayer to you, Lord, listen to my voice in the morning; in the morning I will stand before you and await you.” These beautiful words from Psalm 5 tell us how the psalmist eagerly awaits each morning as he prepares to talk to God. Prayer is an important part of our life. Unfortunately, too many of us don’t pray enough, or even at all.
St. John Vianney says “not only is prayer very powerful; even more, it’s of the utmost necessity for overcoming the enemies of our salvation. Look at all the saints: they weren’t content with watching and fighting to overcome the enemies of their salvation and with keeping well away from all that could offer them temptation. They passed their whole lives in prayer, not only the day, but very often the whole night as well. Yes, my dear children, we watch over ourselves and all the motions of our hearts in vain, and in vain we avoid temptation, if we don’t pray. If we don’t continually resort to prayer, all our other ways will be of no use at all to us, and we’ll be overcome. We won’t find any sinner converted without turning to prayer. We won’t find one persevering without depending heavily on prayer. Nor will we ever find a Christian who ends up damned whose downfall didn’t begin with a lack of prayer (Manual for Spiritual Warfare, pg 155).”
St. John Vianney warns us that if we don’t pray we will lose the spiritual battle with evil. He says, “We can see how much the devil fears those who pray, since there is not a moment of the day when he tempts us more than when were at prayer. He does everything he can to prevent us from praying.” That’s why Bishop Boyea has challenged each and every one of us with a year of prayer – prayer to help make us missionary disciples to spread the Gospel and stop Satan cold in his tracks from attempting to lead people away from God.
This week, I invite you to re-read Fr. Todd’s bulletin write up from last Sunday. Find the time to pray 10 minutes at home with your children, 30 minutes if you’re empty nesters, or an hour if you are retired or single. For its only when we pray “that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life, godly and respectful in every way (1 Timothy 2:2).” May you have a Blessed and prayerful week with our Lord!
Deacon John
