“Speak, Lord, You’re servant is listening”(1Samuel 3:9)
Reflection
When I was a young man, I was anxious to get ahead—to be as successful as I could be. Following the example set by my father and my brothers before me, I determined the best way to get anywhere was to simply do the job I was paid to do, in the best way I knew how to do it. That has been my plan ever since my first day on a job and it continues today. And it has served me well.
I never actively pursued my career in retail management; I just sort of ‘grew into it’. Those in authority over me noticed my work, even though I didn’t do the job to be “seen” and I certainly didn’t “blow trumpets” to be heard. I simply did what I was supposed to do, when I was supposed to do it. And if I couldn’t get it done in the time allotted me in the course of a shift, I would many times take my work home with me and finish it there, where I would not be distracted by the incidental “noise” of business. Success and monetary rewards followed as a consequence of just doing the right things at the right time. My father and his generation used to call it “keeping my nose to the grindstone.”
I think this is what the message of Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18 is all about. We don’t go to Mass or perform our works of mercy (either spiritual or corporal) to be seen in hopes of being rewarded with the Beatific Vision of our Lord, we do these things out of love for God and to help Jesus bring hope to those who are hope-less and weak in their faith. Jesus is telling us that this is the work we have to do. We should strive to be pious, not pompous. And while prayer in community is powerful (there is NO stronger form of prayer in Heaven or on Earth than the Mass), we are also told by Jesus to go to our inner room, close the door and pray to our Father in secret. This prayer is akin to taking the “work” (“prayer”) home with us that we couldn’t finish “on the job” (at Mass).
“Going to our inner room” is not necessarily meant to be taken literally. It could mean that, and if it helps you to pray more fervently, go for it. I personally think it means that we should try to pray from the heart, rather than simply with the intellect. I can say a Rosary while sitting in front of the television and get distracted, making my prayers “vain and repetitious” or I can turn the TV off and meditate on the life of Christ as the prayers are intended and our Father who sees everything and hears everything will hear me, no matter how silently I mouth the prayers.
Or, I can go to the church and sit in front of the Blessed Sacrament and just listen to what Our Lord wants to say to me. We sometimes forget that prayer is a conversation with God. A conversation implies that one party speaks while the other listens. If our prayers don’t include time for a response from God, how will we know what He is asking of us?
I’m going to try a little harder to speak less and listen more. How about you?
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