Anyone that has
followed my blog(principalsonlineoffice.blogspot.com) knows that I struggle
with my prayer life. I struggle to
remember to pray, daily, and when I do pray, I wonder if I am saying the right
things or am I doing it the right way. I
have overcome most of these hurdles, not completely, but I am much better than
I ever was before.
In an effort to
remember to pray, daily, I got an app for that.
I know, this is kind of sad that I have to have an application to pray
daily, but before the app I would forget to pray completely. Now, every time I open my phone, there is the
app on the first page, and while it only gives me a morning prayer and an
afternoon prayer, I see the image and now I do not have to use the app to pray,
I use it to remind me to pray. I might
not open the app and read what it suggests, but now I will just say a few words
in my head, whether it be to ask for God’s guidance, give Him praise and
thanksgiving, or to ask God to protect a loved one or friend.
As for worrying what
to say, I had a friend give me some great advice, about what to say when one
prays to God: J.O.Y. Jesus, Others, You. I have stuck pretty much to that plan every
time I pray. I thank God for the
wonderful blessings in my life. I pray
for those that have asked me to pray for them by name, then I ask God for his
guidance and understanding in whatever my struggles are in my life.
As far as praying
the “right way” I have come to the conclusion that there is no correct way to
pray. If I am wrong on this, boy am I in
trouble. However, I have learned that
God is ready to listen to anyone willing to engage in conversation with
Him. He is there ready and waiting on us
to start the conversation, so I believe that He does not have a particular
“right way” to pray.
Now I have an
entirely different struggle. At Mass we
always have prayers and petitions starting with the Church, the Pope, the
Priest, then it usually turns to peaceful end to wars, and for our world
leaders to find said solution. Finally
they end in a more personal or community prayers. However, the other day, I must have been in a
bad mood, for I wondered why we continue to pray for the same thing over, and
does God even listen? Because if He did,
then why are we not praying for something different every week?
After long
contemplation, I had two epiphanies when it comes to prayers and
petitions. First is something that Fr.
Hunter tweeted a couple of weeks ago that reminded me that God has three
answers to prayers, “Yes,” “No,” or “I have another plan.” The second epiphany I was reminded that the
purpose of prayer is to change something.
Change the sick to healthy, the wicked to kind, whenever we pray, we are
actually praying for some kind of change.
Now, for the biggest
revelation of all, I have come to conclude that regardless of who or what you
are praying for, whatever change you wish to see from your prayer, the biggest
change one gets from prayer is hopefully from within. The most important thing prayer can change is
your heart. When one experiences change
from within, it can’t help but change their actions and the way they treat others. If we pray for an end to war and for the
beginning of peace, it will not and cannot happen if we are not allowing our
prayers to change us from within.
Think, if we all
allowed prayer to change us from within, then it changes our actions towards
others. Hopefully, that change for the
better is contagious towards the family and friends that we surround ourselves. Then they start to spread the change to
family and friends they are around, and next thing you know, we could have an
epidemic, of the good kind. If we can
allow God to change our hearts, and spread that to everyone we know, then
before you know it, we might just have the peaceful place we always pray for at
Mass.
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