Pray unceasingly!

One of the strongest pastoral demands of St. Paul was “Pray unceasingly” (1 Thes 5:17). It could mean many things such as using FOR words ‘pray for your needs’, ‘pray for yourself and family’, ‘pray for others’, or using WITH words such as ‘pray with the family, with the Church, with friends’ etc., Most often it means just ritual if we take away IN words, pray in faith, trust, hope. We pray in the name of Jesus.

The commandment of love includes OTHERS as important as the self; our prayers certainly have to include others. ‘Pray for others as you pray for yourselves’. What can you possibly give to the unemployed, homeless, lonely, the unloved, those in nursing homes, terrorists who kill innocent lives, people who fall prey to bad economy, people who are filled with greed and people who fight in God’s name? We need each other to pray for each other.

Weakness invades our bones; we feel powerless. We need someone or some people to carry our petitions to God. They know the way; they know where he lives; they have the power to face all the challenges to take us to God. We all need those people to carry our burden. We have friends to go partying; do the interior decoration, plan our tours and shopping, but we feel so embarrassed to have a friend who can pray with us, for us and take our burden to God. The gift of having those friends motivate us to be that friends ourselves. How often do I carry someone else’s burden to the Lord? Can I go all the way to take my friend to God?

Jesus ordered that man to take up the mat. Now that he experiences the presence of Jesus in life, he can carry his own weight. Now he has been given a mission by Jesus. Now that you are healthy, bring me a paralyzed person! This is the way we share in God’s plan of salvation. The healthy has the mission to bring the sick and carry their burden. The sick has the command of God to let the healthy to carry them. We need more volunteers to participate in this mission of bringing joy to people’s life. Let us make our society a place of people who live in the presence of God and not a place of machines – once you are old, you will be thrown out! Let us pray that we may be guided by Holy Spirit to bear the burden of our brothers and sisters and bring them to Jesus our Lord and Savior. Amen.