Jesus departed to the mountain to pray,
and he spent the night in prayer to God.
~ Luke 6:12
I am still thinking of what Mother Teresa said of prayer: “Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depth of our hearts.”
Jesus spent a lot of His time in prayer. His favorite time of day to pray was early in the morning. And in this incident reported in today’s Gospel reading, he spent the whole night in prayer. Thinking of what Mother Teresa says about prayer, I cannot imagine Jesus spending the whole night asking things from the Father. Bit I can imagine Him thanking the Father for the gift of His earthly life and just relishing being in His Presence.
We have done nothing to merit or deserve life. It was freely and lovingly given to us by God. And I can spend my whole expressing my gratitude and still not be able to thank God enough for the gift of life. Indeed, just for the gift of life alone, I cannot imagine asking God for anything else but simply stand in His Presence in utter gratitude. I cannot imagine asking for more things in life since He gave me everything I needed when He gave me life. I cannot imagine asking God to make other people do things for me; instead I should pray for God to show me what I can do to make the live of other people happier and fuller. I cannot imagine asking God to make certain things happen that would make me happier; instead I pray that God would teach me to see His Presence in the daily unfolding of events in my life.
I pray the Suscipe of St. Ignatius but in Pilipino to truly feel the great gifts og God in my life and why and how that is reason enough to spend the rest of my life in thanksgiving to the Lord.
Kunin mo, o Diyos at tanggapin mo.
Ang aking kalayaan, ang aking kalooban,
ang isip at gunita ko, lahat ng hawak ko,
lahat ng loob ko, lahay ay aking alay sayo.
Mula sayo ang lahat ng ito,
muli kong handog sa iyo.
Patnubayan mo’t paghariang lahat
ayon sa kalooban mo.
Mag utos ka, Panginoon ko.
Dagling tatalima ako.
Ipagkaloob mo lang ang pag ibig mo
at lahat ay tatalikdan ko.