Welcome to Resurrection Parish, and for the second week of the message series, “Staying Power.” Some of you might wonder, “Father, why do you nearly always start off by saying ‘Welcome’? It is pretty much the same people here at Mass week in and week out.” Well “pretty much” is not “always,” so there are often a few new people, and with the live-streaming of Mass, there may be even more new people than we know about. I really want to emphasize that we have as a goal to be a welcoming parish: whether people have just moved into our neighborhood, or if because of all the craziness that 2020 has brought us, some people may have entered a new stage in their relationship with God. All are welcomed here, as we as a community together grow in our relationship with God.
In fact, that is what this message series is all about; growing in our faith. Spiritual growth empowers you to identify your purpose and to accomplish what God has created you to do. Spiritual growth enables you to become the best version of you, the person you want to be. Spiritual growth encourages you to love the people around you the way you want to love them but often fail to. Spiritual growth equips you to love and care for yourself in a way that is not selfish but selfless.
Spiritual growth requires more than just openness; it also requires commitment. Towards that end, we have identified five commitments that we believe are essential for people to grow as a follower of Christ. They form the acronym STEPS: Serving in Ministry or Missions, Tithing and Giving, Engaging in a Small Group, Practicing Prayer and Sacraments, and Sharing your Faith. Over the next few weeks we’re going to be digging down deeper into each of these steps.
Today, we are looking at a step that is the most widely accepted spiritual practice of all. When it comes to some of these STEPS, I need to stand up here and try and convince you that you should take them, and some of you need a lot of convincing. Not this one. This one, we can all easily agree on.
Of course, we’re looking at the practicing of prayer and, as Catholics, we would add the celebration of the sacraments, because the sacraments are a form of prayer, and, when it comes to the Eucharist, it is the source and summit of our prayer life.
Prayer is both a conversation and an encounter with God in which we tune our hearts to him. We say practice prayer for two reasons.
One, we are acknowledging that it takes practice to pray. Praying, while very simple, is not easy. When you start getting serious about prayer, you don’t necessarily experience fruitfulness. You have to keep at it.
The second reason we say practice prayer and Sacraments is that we don’t just pray in order to put our time in with God. Prayer is often thought of as a very passive thing. When we’ve exhausted all our human efforts, when we can’t think of anything else to do then we pray. We even say, “Well, all we can do now is pray.” The reality is, prayer is the first thing and the best thing to do.
In today’s second reading, we heard a section of St. Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians. As you know, St. Paul was one of the Church’s first, great missionaries, traveling throughout the Middle East and into Europe, proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ, and establishing Christian Churches in the various cities he visited. After a church was up and running he would move on to the next city and repeat the exercise. But in a number of cases, he followed up with “letters” offering on-going instruction and encouragement, and in some cases reprimands, as these communities grew and flourished.
This letter, written to the Church in a Greek city of the Roman Empire, begins with some practical steps to take regarding the practice of prayer. St. Paul describes the way he has been praying for the Thessalonians. He writes, “We give thanks to God always for all of you, remembering you in our prayers, unceasingly calling to mind your work of faith, labor of love and endurance in hope” (1 Thessalonians 1:1-3).
Often we don’t pray because we don’t know what to pray or what to say. Part of St. Paul’s prayer was simply talking about his day. He brought his daily experiences before God. In this case he was remembering the good things going on in the church in Thessaloniki, and he was giving thanks about that. That was his simple prayer.
One easy way to pray is simply to review your day at the end of the day. Thank God for all the things that went well. Acknowledge regret for missteps and mistakes. Pray about what’s on your mind, or in your heart. Also, the more specific your prayer, the more dynamic it will be, the more real it will be.
Anyway, you can say anything you want in prayer. So Paul remembers the Thessalonians in his prayer, thanking God for their good work. Then notice that Paul says he prays before God our Father. “We give thanks to God always for all of you” (1 Thessalonians 1:1-3). When we pray we are praying to our God our Father. He’s not a force, like in Star Wars; he’s a Father.
St. Paul continues, “Knowing brothers and sisters, loved by God, how you were chosen” (1 Thessalonians 1:4). St. Paul reminds the Thessalonians that we have been chosen by God to live in relationship with him. Prayer is a response to a relationship that God has initiated with us. But to grow in the relationship, we must be open to it, we must respond.
That’s the practice part. St. Paul tells us, “For our gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 1:5). The Holy Spirit is a helper and guide whenever we decide to try to pray. Thus Paul concludes, “Be joyful always, give thanks in all circumstances, and pray continually” (1 Thessalonians 1:6).
If you don’t pray regularly, and don’t really know where to start, we can help you out. Sign up for our daily devotional, Worship Fully. You can find it on the parish website under the “Living the Message” dropdown; just click on the date on the calendar. An easier way is to sign up for the parish Flocknote. It is free to you, and the sign up is right there on the parish website. We’ll automatically send you the daily Worship Fully, which contains a daily reading, prayer and brief reflection that you can use to jump-start your own prayer efforts. Even a few minutes a day is a great place to start.
I mentioned earlier that St. Paul was the Church’s first great missionary, and that is a nice segue to today being World Mission Sunday. Since Jesus sent His Apostles and other disciples out to preach His Word, every generation has generously answered this holy call. Today priests, consecrated women and men, and lay people continue to reach out to those who do not know or believe in Jesus our Savior. For those of us who remain at home, we can contribute to our Father’s plan through prayer and the example we offer in our community. An of course, we can make a generous sacrifice to the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, which is the Pope’s own missionary society. We can ease the burdens of others through our prayers and personal sacrifice. Normally we would take up a second collection for World Mission Sunday, but due to the pandemic we are not taking up collections. But you should have received an envelop for World Mission Sunday, which you can put in the baskets as you leave the church. If you forgot to bring the envelop this weekend, bring it in next: we will make sure it gets to the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.
God wants to have a personal relationship with you. He wants you to always be joyful to always be thankful. And it all beings in prayer.