“The `turning’ of our whole self to God can be achieved only by deep and sincere and simple faith, enlivened by a hope which knows that contact with God is possible and by a love which desires above all things to do His will.

PRAYER IS PETITION, THANKSGIVING, AND PRAISE

Very often what makes us turn to God in prayer are our needs and sufferings. The person who has everything he wants easily thinks only about himself. That is perhaps why God must at times send us trials, for this is often the only way He can turn us (or convert us) back to Himself. And He is the one goal of my life.

It is quite correct to ask God for whatever I need in my daily life. God wants us to come to Him as children to a loving Father. Jesus Himself encourages us to ask God for needs : “Ask and you shall receive; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you” (Matthew. 7, 7). Such prayer expresses our own limitations and our total dependence on God. It also shows our unbounded confidence in God our Father who loves us and cares for our every need.

The prayer of petition is usually accompanied and followed by prayer of thanksgiving. In our day-to-day lives it is a mark of ordinary politeness to say “Thank you” to those who give us something we ask for. Gratitude is a beautiful virtue. Should we not develop this sense of gratitude to the good God?

But more important in our prayer is our praise of God for what He is and for His loving kindness. The Bible, especially the psalms, are full of the prayer of praise. It comes as a spontaneous outburst from the depths of the heart when we meet God in prayer.

Prayer is my response to God for His special love for me. He has given me so much – even His own Son. All I can do in return is to throw myself, my whole self, at His feet – my total pranam.

MASS AS PRAYER

We have seen that the Mass is the total offering of Christ on the cross to His Father, where He gave the last drop of His blood to buy us back from our sins to God’s friendship and sonship.

“God sent forth His Son born of a woman, born under the law, to deliver from the law those who were subjected to it, so that we might receive our status as adopted sons. The proof that you are sons is the fact that God has sent forth into our hearts the spirit of His Son which cries out `Abba’ (`Father’). You are no longer a slave but a son! And the fact that you are a son makes you an heir, by God’s design.

“In the past when you did not acknowledge God, you served as slaves to gods who are not really divine. Now – you have come to know God, or rather, have been known by God” (Galatians 4, 4-9).

In the Mass, Christ invites me to join myself intimately with Him, to offer myself with Him, to surrender myself to His Father with the Son and in the Son and through the Son.