[stephenkhoo]

Tuesday, 28 February, 2012, 1st Week of Lent
THE IMPORTANCE OF PRAYER IN REALIZING THE OBJECTIVE OF LENT

SCRIPTURE READINGS: ISA 55:10-11; MT 6:7-15

What is the objective of Lent? The season of Lent is to prepare us for the renewal of our baptism at Easter. It was at our baptism that we were sanctified and given the gift of sonship in Christ. Through baptism, we became the children of God, experiencing the Father’s love and sharing in God’s life. However, due to negligence, some of us have fallen into sin and become complacent in our spiritual life. Lent is therefore a season of grace to enable us to renew our baptismal vows, by returning to the Lord. It is truly a season of repentance and conversion.

To help us to live a holy life, the Church provides us three ways to become more conscious of the presence of God in our lives. The three pillars of the Lenten spiritual exercises are namely, almsgiving, prayer and fasting. These three are inter-related and mutually complement each other. Prayer and fasting must lead to almsgiving, that is, charity. Fasting is an aid to both prayer and almsgiving. Prayer is central in the spiritual exercises for the strength to fast and to be charitable towards others is rooted in the love of God in us.

How then should we pray? Today, the scripture readings give us the required disposition for prayer. If prayers are to be really effective in bringing about results, as the first reading implies, then the disposition in prayer should be considered. It is important in prayer that we do not become mechanical and ritualistic, as Jesus warned us, “In your prayers do not babble as the pagans do, for they think that by using many words they will make themselves heard.” Indeed, prayer must be prayed with the heart, not in a superstitious manner or even to manipulate the will of God. It is not a matter of how many times we pray or how many prayers we say. What is more important is to consider the quality and depth of prayer. In the Lord’s Prayer as taught by Jesus, we have both the content and the perspective of prayer.

It is significant that the Lord’s Prayer begins with the address to God as Father. This means that prayer, first and foremost, is to foster our relationship primarily with God who is a personal being, not an abstract reality. To address God as our Father is to recognize his transcendence and immanence. In addressing God as “Our Father in heaven”, we are acknowledging the transcendence of God, His power over heaven and earth. He is the origin and destiny of creation. However, in petitioning Him for our daily bread, we recognize that God is also with us in our history. He is not simply the Lord of creation. He is very much involved in our history and daily events. It is this confidence of His care for us, that the psalmist could so confidently declare that God will rescue the just from all their distress and deliver them from all their fears.

As a consequence, our relationship with God the Father will be that of a child-like faith, which is a sharing of Christ’s sonship, His total trust and confidence in His Father, regardless of any situation. It is this trust in the Father that Jesus could say to us, “your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” Hence, we need not think that the Father will hear our prayer if we say many prayers. Rather, to pray is to deepen our relationship and confidence in Him so that we do not put obstacles for His grace to work in our lives. Indeed, a childlike faith is one that simply relies on His Word and promise. We are certain that God will be faithful to us, for in the first reading, the Lord said, “so the word that goes from my mouth does not return to me empty, without carrying out my will and succeeding in what it was sent to do.” Thus, we need not live in anxiety and fear that our daily needs will not be supplied to us.

The implications of addressing God as Our Father also encumbers us to look after each other as we are all children, brothers and sisters of our Heavenly Father. Indeed, the season of Lent is not just renewing our sonship and daughtership in Christ, but our solidarity with each other in the family of God. Thus, we do not only pray for our personal needs, but we pray for the all of us that we be given our daily bread. Our prayer therefore, although personal, is at the same time, always a corporate prayer as well. We pray not only for ourselves but for all our brothers and sisters.

Prayers therefore also help us to foster relationship with our brothers and sisters. What we seek most in life, besides being in communion with God, is to be in communion with our loved ones and fellow human beings. It is love and communion that makes life meaningful and worthwhile. Even if we are successful in our career, make sufficient money for ourselves and are admired by many people in the world, life remains incomplete unless there is someone who truly loves us, not for what we can do but simply for who we are. If popularity and status is enough to give us happiness in life, celebrities and artistes would not have committed suicide, for they seem to be materially successful and loved by the world.

So a very important aspect of prayer during the season of Lent is to seek reconciliation with our brothers and sisters. The most important kind of healing is forgiveness and reconciliation. So important is forgiveness for our happiness that Jesus purposefully chose to elaborate the petition of forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer. Truly central to our happiness in life, is the need to be forgiven by God and by our fellowmen and also to render forgiveness as well. “If you forgive others their failings, your heavenly Father will forgive you yours; but if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive your failings either.”

Most of all, if prayer is such a central component of the spiritual exercises, it is because prayer ultimately seeks to bring about the transformation of the person who prays, not just those whom we pray for. It is said that in relationships, we become like those whom we love. So, too, in relating with God in prayer, we also begin to imbibe His values, His life and His thoughts. We become more like Him, which is what the Lenten season hopes to achieve, that we be restored in His image as His sons and daughters. Surely, anyone who is sincere in praying “your name be held holy, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven” is seeking to be one with God. To be holy, doing His will, forgiving, being forgiven, is what the life of the kingdom is all about.

How then can we improve our prayer life? The hint given to us is from the first reading when the prophet speaks about the efficacy and power of God’s work to bring about transformation and change in our lives. Hence, if we want to develop a strong prayer life, we must read the Word of God daily in a prayerful manner. After all, the Lord’s Prayer is a synthesis of the gospel preached by our Lord. To understand the Lord’s Prayer deeply, we must contemplate on the gospel. In this way, we will become more and more like Christ and by so doing, we truly recover our sonship in Christ as we immerse ourselves deeply into His passion and resurrection.