The Inexpressible Groanings of Prayer
How many of us have prayed long and hard for something we really wanted, but didn’t receive it? How did you feel? Is God really listening? Is God the loving Father we’ve come to know and love?
We have either had an experience like this, know someone who has, or read a story similar to this. “For we do not know how to pray as we ought” (Romans 8:26). At first glance this seems like a strange teaching from St. Paul in today’s second reading. After all, Jesus taught the Apostles the Our Father when they asked him how to pray (Luke 11).
Our human nature, because of the Fall, frequently leads us down a path that makes us think we know what is best for us and for those around us. But we always need to remember the beginning of the story: God’s creation of the universe with man being the pinnacle of this creation. God is love (1 John 4:8) and created us out of His limitless, unconditional love. He created us with the skills and talents we need to complete the mission, the purpose, of our existence. He created us good (Gen 1:31).
The sin of Adam and Eve is the sin of pride. The sin of wanting to be God and not be satisfied being a creature. We constantly want to control things and create our own future. We need to constantly remind ourselves we are not God, because Satan is constantly trying to get us to believe we are.
Original Sin is the cause of this disordered desire, and it destroys the virtues of humility and obedience in our culture and in our Church. I do not know my greatest good. I do not know how to pray for what I need. Remind yourself of this every day. I am a creature and a sinner. I do not get to command God and treat Him like a genie. I must be humble and obedient to all of God’s desires and willingly accept the path God has planned for me.
So how do we pray? The Our Father is a great place to start, where we acknowledge that God gives us our daily bread. We do not create it on our own. Your loving Father wants to hear your petitionary prayer, so imitate Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). Be humble and practice obedience. Place yourself at the foot of the cross and ask Him to reveal your path to you each and every day. Follow it, don’t manipulate it to your own desires, and you will live a life of joy and peace.
–Carl Krutka
Send Us Forth are reflections written by St. Matthew parishioners and friends.