Intimate with God

Teresa of Avila, the great Doctor of the Church, who lived in sixteenth century Spain and whose feast day we celebrated on Saturday, was thrown off her horse while crossing a river and, soaked to the skin, looked up to heaven and supposedly said to God, “If this is how you treat your friends, no wonder you have so few of them!”

Prayer (talking to God) was St Teresa’s speciality. Her relationship with God was intimate and total. She knew Him as our almighty, all loving God; interested and intimately connected with each of us. So close and so accepting of God’s will for her was she that she could even be a bit cheeky.

How different from the world’s common message that tells us we are alone in our own little universe bubble and everything else orbits around us!  If there is a problem in our lives, then there is a product, plan or technique to fix it. We are urged to take control of our lives, as though only we can do so. Sometimes even our prayer seems more intended to get God on board with our program rather than to lay ourselves humbly at His feet!

Jesus tells a parable in this week’s gospel (Luke 18:1-8) about the need to pray always and to not lose heart. It speaks to us if we’ve ever felt discouraged in our prayer or if our prayers seem to be unanswered. Rather than give up, Jesus encourages us to be persistent. It is fine to pray for specific healing, assistance or even material things as long as we humbly recognise that God knows best. Praying to change God is a forlorn hope but when we pray to change ourselves, to understand His will, then the exciting and unexpected possibilities are infinite.

Deacon Mark Kelly