Today’s text
1 John 5:14-15
“And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him.”
Prayer
According to your will, you say. Whatever we ask … according to your will … we will receive. And what is your will other than what you are? You are love, and you are glorified in words and deeds of love. These reveal you. They glorify you, enlarging your life on this thirsty planet. This is your will, and this prayer you never turn away. You always answer.
The longer I live the more I believe that, Holy One. The longer I live the more I know I need that prayer. Faces pass through my life, my office, crossing my path with human pain and joy beyond my capacity to understand. I listen agnostically, knowing only that I do not know their want, their need or their wounds.
And I pray: Help me to love this person. Help me to love this person …and the unique journey that brought them to my door. Truly, my Lord, I want nothing more than this.
Then I wait, and you answer. Of that, I am certain.
So I boldly pray again, over this and every day, over each person I shall meet today: Let me love them, regardless how pleasant or troubling they may be to me. May my words and deeds glorify you, enlarging your life on this thirsty planet, making you more present. That is your will, and for that I shall pray. Amen.
Pr. David L. Miller
Reflections on Scripture and the experience of God's presence in our common lives by David L. Miller, an Ignatian retreat director for the Christos Center for spiritual Formation, is the author of "Friendship with Jesus: A Way to Pray the Gospel of Mark" and hundreds of articles and devotions in a variety of publications. Contact him at prdmiller@gmail.com.
1 comment:
We are called to pray for our enemies. What would it be like if, as we prayed, we surrounded our enemies with our desire to be loving? The fear of enemies, the presumption that they must change in order for peace and reconciliation to occur, our belief that we KNOW precisely the form of what must occur in order for peace and love to prevail ... all of those barriers to living in and through the mysterious presence of God's lavish love would dissolve.
We could never predict what that would "look" like. I wonder if we could even recognize it, except through the lens of our hearts centered in Christ.
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