The spiritual offering of prayer
Prayer is the offering in spirit that has done away with the sacrifices of old. What good do I receive from the multiplicity of your sacrifices? asks God. I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams, and I do not want the fat of lambs and the blood of bulls and goats. Who has asked for these from your hands? What God has asked for we learn from the Gospel. The hour will come, he says, when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. God is a spirit, and so he looks for worshippers who are like himself. We are true worshippers and true priests. We pray in spirit, and so offer in spirit the sacrifice of prayer. Prayer is an offering that belongs to God and is acceptable to him: it is the offering he has asked for, the offering he planned as his own. We must dedicate this offering with our whole heart, we must fatten it on faith, tend it by truth, keep it unblemished through innocence and clean through chastity, and crown it with love. We must escort it to the altar of God in a procession of good works to the sound of psalms and hymns. Then it will gain for us all that we ask of God. Since God asks for prayer offered in spirit and in truth, how can he deny anything to this kind of prayer? How great is the evidence of its power, as we read and hear and believe. Of old, prayer was able to rescue from fire and beasts and hunger, even before it received its perfection from Christ. How much greater then is the power of Christian prayer. No longer does prayer bring an angel of comfort to the heart of a fiery furnace, or close up the mouths of lions, or transport to the hungry food from the fields. No longer does it remove all sense of pain by the grace it wins for others. But it gives the armour of patience to those who suffer, who feel pain, who are distressed. It strengthens the power of grace, so that faith may know what it is gaining from the Lord, and understand what it is suffering for the name of God. In the past prayer was able to bring down punishment, rout armies, withhold the blessing of rain. Now, however, the prayer of the just turns aside the whole anger of God, keeps vigil for its enemies, pleads for persecutors. Is it any wonder that it can call down water from heaven when it could obtain fire from heaven as well? Prayer is the one thing that can conquer God. But Christ has willed that it should work no evil, and has given it all power over good. Its only art is to call back the souls of the dead from the very journey into death, to give strength to the weak, to heal the sick, to exorcise the possessed, to open prison cells, to free the innocent from their chains. Prayer cleanses from sin, drives away temptations, stamps out persecutions, comforts the fainthearted, gives new strength to the courageous, brings travellers safely home, calms the waves, confounds robbers, feeds the poor, overrules the rich, lifts up the fallen, supports those who are falling, sustains those who stand firm. All the angels pray. Every creature prays. Cattle and wild beasts pray and bend the knee. As they come from their barns and caves they look out to heaven and call out, lifting up their spirit in their own fashion. The birds too rise and lift themselves up to heaven: they open out their wings, instead of hands, in the form of a cross, and give voice to what seems to be a prayer. What more need be said on the duty of prayer? Even the Lord himself prayed. To him be honour and power for ever and ever. Amen.
Lucky Dip
Recent Comments
a hook and a net … on Bishop Barron: Not My Job Mary Salmond on You have seen the logo for the… Mary Salmond on How to know when The Warning i… Mary Salmond on Meditations on Corpus Chr… dreamsofheavenblog on What Francis sees as a cure, J… dreamsofheavenblog on ‘The clot-shot and muzzl… Heresy! Heresy!… on The Greatest Dogma of the Chri… a new evangelism … on Bishop Barron: Not My Job RemnantchildofMary on Precious moments: newly ordain… Crow on Pope Francis appoints pro-LGBT… Mary Anne on The message of Our Lady of Aki… Darrell Wright on The message of Our Lady of Aki… kfbeckmann@aol.com on The message of Our Lady of Aki… Mary Anne on The message of Our Lady of Aki… Brother Burrito on Near-Death Experience Paves Wa… Recent 100+ Comments
Catholic Video
Join the Rosary for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
People from all around the world
Are praying the Holy Rosary
For the intentions of
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVIApologetics
Bible
Catechisms
Catholic Devotions
Catholic Prayers
Catholic Sources
Church Teaching
Liturgy
Writings of the Fathers
Follow us on Twitter!
- Sunday Readings and Reflections catholicismpure.wordpress.com/2022/07/03/sun… 13 hours ago
-
Recent Posts
- Sunday Readings and Reflections July 3, 2022
- The Silence of Pope Francis, Bishops Undermines the Pro-Life Movement July 2, 2022
- July – Month of the Precious Blood July 1, 2022
- The German Synod Is Infecting the Whole Church, Without the Pope’s Restraining It June 30, 2022
- You have seen the logo for the 2025 Jubilee? June 30, 2022
- The Eucharistic Heart of Jesus June 30, 2022
- Feast of Saints Peter and Paul June 29, 2022
- Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles (vigil) June 28, 2022
- Priest’s open letter to Pope Francis: Please correct your ‘serious’ errors and defend divine truth June 28, 2022
- Our Lady of Perpetual Help June 27, 2022
- How to know when The Warning is near June 27, 2022
- Sunday Readings and Reflections June 25, 2022
- Prayers of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary June 25, 2022
- Pope Francis allegedly tells homosexual activist to ‘continue’ work with ‘LGBT Catholics’ June 25, 2022
- BREAKING: US Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade in historic ruling June 24, 2022
- Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus June 24, 2022
- Solemnity of the Nativity of St John the Baptist June 23, 2022
- Pray with Trust for your Lost Sheep June 23, 2022
- Why Is June the Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus? June 22, 2022
- Exorcist Diary: Demons Tortured by St. Michael Prayer June 21, 2022
Archives
Search posts by keywords
Blog Stats
- 4,547,483 hits since 4th July 2010
Top Posts
- Priest’s open letter to Pope Francis: Please correct your ‘serious’ errors and defend divine truth
- The Silence of Pope Francis, Bishops Undermines the Pro-Life Movement
- The Division of Opinion on Archbishop Vigano
- Marriage Crucifix
- Sunday Readings and Reflections
- Our Lady of La Salette: A Fearful Warning and a Prophecy
- Garabandal - Rumblings of the Warning: A Pope, a Synod, and a Trip to Moscow
- You have seen the logo for the 2025 Jubilee?
- Memorandum for Cardinals on the next conclave doing the rounds
- Father Robert Barron tours England to present ground-breaking "Catholicism" series
please erase the above, thank you.
LikeLike