RANDOM THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS, by Deacon Sam Colenzo
October 3, 2022

In life, we frequently experience stress, tiredness, frustration, suffering and pain. Jesus offers us words of consolation, and hope to help us deal with life. “Come to me, you who are weary…” Jesus‘s yoke is easy, and His burden is light. We are invited to put our faith and trust in Him, because he is gentle and we are witnesses of Christ's love to others. We sometimes say we are not worthy – but Jesus chose weak people to follow Him, and they became great leaders and messengers of peace – Moses, Peter, Matthew, St. Paul, etc. Sometimes everything in our life seems chaotic, but Jesus, with our trust, can lead us out of the chaos. It is in being with Him that we can find rest for our souls. “Lord, I am a poor sinner, but you can work the miracle to make me better.“ Let us all reach out to each other with God's love and mercy, and be courageous in living out our faith to the world.

We serve a God who is committed to us - we need to be committed to Him. “God, do something in me and through me.“ God says He is a partner with each of us and He wants us to be active participants with Him in our life. We all want our desires to come to pass - what are we giving our joy and time to? What gives us joy, peace and strength? God wants to shape our desires when we put our delight in Him. God wants to bring out of us “God- moments“. God wants our best each day - and not necessarily our left-overs. Put God‘s word in your heart when you don’t need it and it will come out when you do need it. Commitment to God steadies and anchors us. Be committed to God - and hang on.

Most of us turn to prayer when we find our life circumstances challenging or tragic. We are invited to have a deeper relationship with God at all times, not just when we need Him to help us with something. We are called to remain steadfast with God, no matter what challenges we experience in our lives. We are called to grow in our understanding of the deep love God has for us, and to open our hearts to let God’s joy in so that we may have a more complete union in our relationship with God. 

Relationships are important as is being in community with each other. Other people pray with us, help us, support us, challenges, motivate us, etc. God intended us to have family, and community and love. We were never intended to live in isolation from others. God’s relationships are a 2-way street – we are there for others and others are there for us. We are most happy when we are helpful and our sense of purpose is connected to helping someone else. We don’t have to be perfect to be loved or helped. God has put many people around us whom we can invest ourselves into. We can give nourishment to each other. We are better together!

Parents have the ability to pass on spiritual blessings to our children. When we hold a baby and show warmth and love to the child, the power of touch transfers a blessing. Children who are touched with love thrive. It is never too late to transfer a blessing to your child. In the great parable of the Prodigal Son, the father gave his son a loving embrace and kissed him when he saw his son return home. His touch conveyed the message: “I forgive you, I bless you and I accept you.“ There is power in parental approval. A hug, approval, etc. can make a huge difference in a person's life.

Jesus gave His disciples a single prayer: the “Our Father“. Pray it from the heart. This prayer says so much. “Our Father“ - not my father. We belong to a family of faith – our faith is not a private matter. “Your will be done“ - this is tough because we usually want to do our will. Are we willing to follow God‘s will? “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive others.“ If we want to go to heaven, we have to forgive those who have hurt us, betrayed us, broken our hearts, etc. We need to reflect God‘s mercy on our brothers and sisters and not carry around the baggage of resentment.“And lead us not into temptation“. God saves us from temptation. Pray the “Our Father“ daily.

When we pray, we can meditate, e.g., take a part of a scripture passage and reflect on it. How does it apply to me? Contemplation is very helpful - put yourself, for example, in a Gospel scene, use your senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, etc.) as you reflect on a particular passage. Ask yourself, what is the mood I am in? What do I see? What do I hear? etc. Make prayers of PRAISE, PETITION, PARDON and THANKSGIVING. Prayer is an encounter with God: I speak, and God listens; God speaks, and I listen; we sit together quietly in peace and joy. Jesus told John – and us – on the cross, “Behold your Mother“. Have an active devotion to Mary. Put your being into the hands of Mary to take care of us!

St. Therese of Lisieux was quoted as saying: “The value of our life does not depend on the place we occupy, but on the way we occupy that place.“

“The deeds you do may be the only sermon some people will hear today.“ St Francis of Assisi.