“THUS says the Lord: I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and petition…” Zechariah 12:10
Have you ever prayed hard to God, asking him to listen to your petition? Have you asked people to pray for you? I’m sure that you made these requests many times in your life. In times of desperation, we cling to our faith, and we ask people to intercede to God for us.
Prayer is an act of humility: a recognition of our limitations as human beings and an acknowledgment of the power that God can do for us. Hence, it is an act of faith.
When Jesus presented to his disciples the question, “Who do people say that I am?” he was testing their faith to see if they believed in his power to save humanity through his cross and resurrection. He wanted to see if people could seriously turn to him as the Christ, the Anointed One.
Prayer then is a way of discipleship. It’s an emptying of ourselves so that God can have power over us. It’s a total submission of all our concerns, worries and fears to God, which, if we think honestly, is a difficult thing to do. For we are weak—we can’t let go of our anxieties and our tendency to control our lives.
We have to learn to let go as Christ admonished his disciples: “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” (Mark 16:24)
We must adhere to these words in every moment of prayer. Jesus promises that those who take up this cross daily—of praying humbly in an act of surrender—will find peace and freedom.
Meditation and contemplation are forms of prayer that would help us exercise this act of submission to God. Every morning or any time of the day we should spend a few quiet moments with God to meditate and contemplate on his healing graces.
God’s innermost desire is to liberate us from all anxieties. But he’s asking us to do our part in allowing him to have power over us.
May we exercise the habit of surrendering to God every day of our lives!
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From a Filipino immigrant family, Reverend Rodel G. Balagtas was ordained to the priesthood from St. John’s Seminary in 1991. He served as Associate Pastor at St. Augustine, Culver City (1991-1993); St. Martha, Valinda (1993-1999); and St. Joseph the Worker, Canoga Park (1999-2001). In 2001, he served as Administrator Pro Tem of St. John Neumann in Santa Maria, CA, until his appointment as pastor of ImmAaculate Heart of Mary, Los Angeles, in 2002, which lasted 12 years. His term as Associate Director of Pastoral Field Education at St. John’s Seminary began in July 2014.
