Pope: prayer can work wonders, but not praying in difficult situations "closes the door to the Lord, so He can do nothing".
Vatican
City ( AsiaNews) - Faced with a problem, a difficult situation, a calamity ,
praying " with the heart " is " opening the door to the Lord to
come in. He builds things, He knows to arrange things, to reorganize things. This
is what praying is: opening the door to the Lord, so that he can do something. But
if we close the door, God can do nothing!". This is the teaching that Pope Francis proposed
this morning in his homily at Mass celebrated in Casa Santa Marta from the
Gospel dedicated to the saint for whom his residence is named.
Pope Francis built his homily
on this aspect, beginning with the famous scene in the Gospel where Martha asks
Jesus, in an almost critical tone, to have her sister to help her do the
serving, rather than sitting at His feet listening to Him. Jesus replied, "Mary
has chosen the better part." This part, Pope Francis said, is "that of prayer,
that of the contemplation of Jesus": "To the eyes of the sister, this was time
lost, it even seemed, perhaps, a bit of a fantasy: gazing upon the Lord as if
she were a awestruck child. But who wants that? The Lord: 'This is the better
part,' because Mary heard the Lord and prayed with her heart. And the Lord
tells us: 'the first task in life is this: prayer.' But not the prayer of
words, like a parrot; but the prayer, the heart: gazing on the Lord, hearing
the Lord, asking the Lord. We know that prayer works miracles."
And prayer produces a miracle even in the ancient city of Niniveh. Jonah, on
God's instructions, had preached the imminent destruction of the city; the
city, though, was saved because the inhabitants, believing the prophet, were
converted, and from the greatest to the least called upon the divine
forgiveness with all their strength. However, even in this story of redemption,
the Pope took note of the erroneous attitude of Jonah, who was more disposed to
justice without mercy. His attitude was similar to Martha's, inclining to service
that excludes interiority:
"And Martha does this. Does what? But she didn't pray! But there are others
like this stubborn Jonah, who are the executioners. He went, he prophesied, but
in his heart he said: 'But if they deserve it. If they deserve it. If they were
asking for it!' He prophesied, but he didn't pray! He didn't ask the Lord to
forgive him. Only to beat them. They are executioners, those that believe
themselves to be just! And in the end, the book of Jonah continues, it is seen
that he was a selfish man, when the Lord saved Nineveh through the prayer of
the people, he was angry with the Lord: 'You are always like that. You always
forgive!'"
And so, the Pope concluded, prayer that is only a formula, without heart, as
well as pessimism or the desire for justice without forgiveness, are the
temptations a Christian must always guard against in order to be able to choose
"the better part": "And we ourselves, when we don't pray, what we're doing is
closing the door to the Lord. And not praying is this: closing the door to the
Lord, so that He can do nothing. On the other hand, prayer, in the face of a
problem, a difficult situation, a calamity, is opening the door to the Lord so
that He will come. So that He builds things, He knows to arrange things, to
reorganize things. This is what praying is: opening the door to the Lord, so
that he can do something. But if we close the door, God can do nothing! Let us
think on this Mary who has chosen the better part, and makes us see the way, as
the door is opened to the Lord."
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