04/02/2024

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

"Went off to a lonely place and prayed there." 

Cardinal Basil Hume used to go to his chapel every morning and pray there for at least half an hour before celebrating mass. That enabled him to be as spiritual and wise as he clearly was. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II called him “My Cardinal” and awarded him The Order of Merit a few days before he died.

My 22 years in Opus Dei taught me to pray mentally half and hour in the morning and half an hour in the evening – a minimum total, not counting retreats and days of recollection, of 8,035 hours of prayer - enabled me to get to know the personality and values of Jesus Christ.

Mental Prayer is not just TAPS: thanking, asking for others, praising and saying sorry, but in my case every week  it includes me asking, “Yesh, what should I say in the coming Sunday homily?

How should I tackle this or that issue? On which sentence of the gospel should I give my homily?   It's talking with my best friend. It helps me .Hugely.

Jesus would have asked his father for the serenity to accept the things he could not change – and living in Palestine under Roman rule, there would have been many - the courage to change the things he could – to educate his followers and the lift up the hearts of so many who listened to him, and the wisdom, not only to know the difference but the best way to carry out these changes. That gave him  a positive mind set and his authority.

How about using the soon to arrive Lent to develop your prayer life.  Just set aside even a quarter of an hour in the morning or evening – or the time you spend on  a bus, tube, or plane. Maybe sitting in a lounge waiting to board a plane. You prayer life might take off!