Prayer from A Humble Heart

The WORD today (See http://usccb.org/bible/readings/102713.cfm) reminds me how God wants us to pray for – from a humble heart.

The first reading reminds me that God hears our prayers, especially of the poor and lowly. Not necessarily poor financially, but poor in the spiritual sense – humble and dependent on God. In the second reading, we see this in action, when we see Paul’s testimony that God heard his prayer as he was totally dependent on Him as he was doing his work. In the gospel we see how Jesus wants us to pray – with a humble heart, totally dependent on God and aware of our sins and shortcomings before God.

How do we pray? Are we like the Pharisee – bragging about our self-righteousness? Do we treat God as our servant – asking a lot of things from him, expecting him to give us what we want, and getting mad at him for not giving us what we asked?

Or are we like the tax collector – repentant and asking God’s forgiveness for our sins? Do we pray like the poor – totally dependent on God, open to receive his graces and his plans in our lives, even if it doesn’t necessarily coincide with what we want?

May we always remember the prayer of the psalmist – The Lord hears the cry of the poor

Father God,

Thank you for today. Thank you for another Sunday! Thank you for your message to me today. Lord, I pray that I have a heart of prayer – a humble, repentant and dependent heart. I am sorry for the times I pray just to ask things from you. Lord, mold me and change me, that my prayers be aligned to your will, and my heart be humble as I pray. Amen.

Blessed Sunday!

In Christ,

-g-