Luke 11:1-13- Lord, teach us to pray.

Luke 11:1-13 was the gospel reading last Sunday, July 25, 2010.

As I pondered on this reading, I was struck by the phrases-
"Lord, teach us to pray."
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you..."
"Even you evil people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more then will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him."

I realized that prayer is a critical component of my relationship with God. It is that which binds me to Him. Prayer is my link to Him. If I don't pray at all, I probably don't have a relationship with my God. Or if I pray little, maybe I really don't trust and love Him that much. But if I do pray so often, whether formally, as in Church or in front of the Blessed Sacrament, or informally - like when I just call on Him or remember Him while cooking or washing the dishes or while strolling, it most probably means I have a special relationship with my God.

As the priest in his homily said last Sunday: do you, as a spouse, go about your day without ever thinking about your partner? Or as a parent, do you ever go about your day without ever thinking about your child? If you love your spouse or your child, it is but natural that they are in your mind... and so it should be with God if He is somebody in your life.

Prayer comes naturally when we have a relationship with God. And the quality of our prayer determines the quality of that relationship. Oftentimes, the quality of our prayer life is also directly proportional to our quality of life. (The quality of life here is not in terms of money but in terms of joy, peace and contentment.)

In this gospel reading, I realized two important things about prayer. First, my prayer has to be persistent. Like the friend in the gospel story, he relented to his friend's request not because he wanted to but because his friend was so persistent.

Second, God will never deny me the Holy Spirit if I ask for it.

Remember, the Holy Spirit is the Paraclete, the Helper promised by Jesus Christ before He ascended into heaven.

If I have the Holy Spirit in me to guide me in my life, I'll never go wrong or go astray. Indeed I have proven this to be true.

Last year, a friend of mine from BLD encouraged me to pray to the Holy Spirit when I told her about my desire to seek the will of God in my life.

Since then, I have often prayed for the Holy Spirit to guide me to know God's will for me, to be with me, to mold me, to change me into the person that He wants me to be.

True enough, my prayer to be able to discern God's will came about.

I know I am not perfect yet. I still stumble in my walk with the Lord. I am often unfaithful. But at least I know that I can always run back to my God, and His grace is just a prayer away.