Fr. Bob’s Greeting – August 2024 Enews

People often talk with me about their difficulty with prayer. It seems to be a reoccurring problem at any age. I cannot remember all the details or the characters but in Eugene, O’Neal‘s play, “The Great God Brown”, we see a man on his deathbed and he is frightened. At his side is his mother and she speaks to him as though he was still a child.

She says, “Go to sleep, Billy. It is all right.” He replies, “Yes, mother.”  Then he says, It was dark, and I could not see where I was going, and they all picked on me. They know I am bad.” The mother says, “But you are tired now. Go to sleep.” He asked, “But when I wake up what will it be like?”  She says, “The sun will be rising.”

Billy says in his great seriousness, “To judge living and the dead.”  And in great fear, he says, “I do not want justice, I want love.” The mother replies, “But there is only love.”  As he dies, Billy begins to repeat the words of the only prayer he knows – Our Father. Billy shows us that prayer originates in our concept of God. I do not want justice, I want love.

St. John tells us that God is love. Billy fears that God may be justice. These are different viewpoints, and your viewpoint is going to color the way you pray. If you see God as an all-seeing critical eye or whether you see God as a pair of arms that embrace you, obviously, that is going to influence the way you pray. So, ask yourself – What is my image of God? What is God like for you? A loving friend or a strict taskmaster?

Some people tell me they feel embarrassed to pray. They are people who do not think of God in good times.  But let tragedy or sickness strike and they are banging on the church door. I hear it all the time. I never go to church, and I never pray. I never really think of God. Now that chips are down in the doctor told me the bad news. So now I am turning to God, but I almost feel squeamish or embarrassed.

People like that forget that God has no pride. You are dealing with God, who is so humble that this God runs to meet the prodigal. This God leaves the ninety-nine to look for the one. God is probably the only one in our lives who stoops to conquer. So never let the prayer of embarrassment stop you from approaching God. it is music to God’s ears.

Then we have the prayer of hindsight. Everyone who is over twenty-five knows what that is. You go through life and there are things that are terrible and painful, ones that leave scars. Sometimes when you look back in hindsight, you can say to the Lord – I never want to go through that again, but it made me a better person. it made a difference in the way I look at life, the way I live life and the way I treat others.

The Scripture tells us to ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened. One thing that we have to realize is that in prayer God will not always give us what we ask for. But God will always give us what we need.