Monday, August 11, 2008

The urgency of prayer

Father Hayes' sermon tonight was short, but to the point. He said while he was in the hospital recently for an extended period of time, they had him so drugged that he didn't have the right attitude for prayer. He said he would start to pray, but before the first prayer was over, he would fall asleep, and when he awakened the rosary would be bunched up under him and leave little bead marks on that part of his body. It got to the point that he didn't care whether he prayed or not. It made him realize how important prayer is when you are properly disposed and in right mind. We all like to think that if we were just laying in bed all day, we would be glad to just pray, pray, pray. But the fact of the matter is that because we are human, we have only so much patience. Why wait until you are faced with a life or death situation before you think of prayer? Why not just one Our Father right now?

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"I demand from you deeds of mercy, which are to arise out of love for Me. You are to show mercy to your neighbors always and everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to excuse or absolve yourself from it.

I am giving you three ways of exercising mercy toward your neighbor:
the first — by deed, the second — by word, the third — by prayer. In these three degrees is contained the fullness of mercy, and it is an unquestionable proof of love for Me. By this means a soul glorifies and pays reverence to My mercy.

Many souls ... are often worried because they do not have the material means with which to carry out an act of mercy. Yet spiritual mercy, which requires neither permissions nor storehouses, is much more meritorious and is within the grasp of every soul.

If a soul does not exercise mercy somehow or other, it will not obtain My mercy on the day of judgment. Oh, if only souls knew how to gather eternal treasure for themselves, they would not be judged, for they would forestall My judgment with their mercy".