1. PRAYER
Loving Lord Jesus, thank You that You are a God Who hears and answers all our prayers, even those prayers where an answer seems to be a long time in coming. Thank You, that You hear and respond to all Your children who come to you in humility of heart, not relying on our own abilities or our own worth, but only on the merit and righteousness of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Teach me Lord, to be patient in my prayers and to learn to wait quietly and trustingly for Your perfect timing, knowing that in all things You are teaching and training me to be more Christ-like in all my works and ways, including my praying.
Lord, teach me to pray according to Your perfect will, and I pray that however long I need to wait, I ask that You would teach me to be patient in my waiting and to trust Your Word for all that You have promised.
Thank You, Lord, that I am Your child and that You are my Father. Thank You that through Jesus, I can cry out, "Abba, Father," knowing that I have full access to Your throne of grace, when I come to You in weakness and humility of heart. Thank You in Jesus' name,
Source: https://prayer.knowing-jesus.com/Prayers-on-Learning-How-to-Pray
2. MEDITATION
https://youtu.be/Xl_B45DpMLU?si=rPaOTDh149kQRiQp
3. SONG
https://youtu.be/ESPsxN4u18o?si=zDjrI5evrMl_VGtR
4. NARRATIVE
Gospel, Matthew
15:21-28
21 Jesus
left that place and withdrew to the region of Tyre and
Sidon.
22 And
suddenly out came a Canaanite woman from
that district and started shouting, 'Lord, Son of David, take pity on me. My
daughter is tormented by a devil.'
23 But
he said not a word in answer to her. And his disciples went and pleaded with
him, saying, 'Give her what she wants, because she keeps shouting after us.'
24 He
said in reply, 'I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.'
25 But
the woman had
come up and was bowing low before him. 'Lord,' she said, 'help me.'
26 He
replied, 'It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to little
dogs.'
27 She
retorted, 'Ah yes, Lord; but even little dogs eat the scraps that fall from
their masters' table.'
28 Then Jesus answered her,
'Woman, you have great faith. Let your desire be granted.' And from that moment
her daughter was well again.
Fr.
Michael Roche’s sermon
I don't think most of us who have
made it as far as this woman. Think about what happens. She comes to Jesus. She's
a mother desperate for her child. She cries out to Jesus. Have pity on me, Lord
son of David.
And Jesus says nothing. Already I think a lot of us would be
struggling. We pray, we ask. Silence. It
doesn't take very long before you start wondering. Is there something wrong?
But this woman keeps on going.
Disciples wanted to get rid of her, And she keeps going. She
comes closer. Falls at his feet, And her prayer gets very simple.
Lord help me.
And then comes the line which we probably wish Jesus hadn't
said. “Even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters”. At this point most of us are definitely done,
but she isn't. She says something astonishing.
Yes, Lord.
Not “ that's unfair,”
Not “ let me explain
why I deserve better”.
Yes, Lord.
And then she takes Jesus word “Even the dogs eat the scraps
that fall from the table of their masters”.
In other words, fine Lord, I don't need the best seat. I
don't even need a seat. Put me under the table because if I am anywhere near
you. There will be enough.
She isn't placing her confidence in her own wilderness.
She's placing her confidence entirely in who Jesus is. And maybe that is what
Jesus has been drawing out of her all along.
Look what happens. She begins shouting from a distance. Then
she becomes closer. Then she falls at his feet. Her prayer gets shorter. Her
fate gets deeper.
There's something here for us, because sometimes our prayer
goes through the same kind of purification. Pray for someone we love. We
pray for marriage. We pray for healing. We pray for a child who is struggling.
We pray for someone to return to the faith. We pray for freedom from a sin we
have compassed more times than we could care to admit.
And sometimes God seem silent. We begin wondering whether
anything is happening.
But we should never confuse the silence of God with the
absence of God.
Faith can be like gold being purified in a furnace. The fire
isn't there to destroy the gold. It burns
away what doesn't belong that what is precious can become more beautiful.
Sometimes our prayer is purified that way too.
We may you may begin with: “God, here is what I need. Here is what needs to happen, Here' is how you
should do it. And, if possible, here is
the timetable”.
And eventually:
“Lord help me,”
I don't
understand, I don't know what you're doing. But I know who you are. And I am not going anywhere.
And that brings us to perhaps the most beautiful part of this
Gospel.
The whole time it looks as though this woman is pursuing
Jesus.
But think about it. Who
came into her territory in the first place?
Jesus did.
She thinks she's chasing after him. But Jesus came looking
for her first.
His mercy isn’t something she finally manages to drag out him His
grace has been at work from the beginning even when she couldn’t see it.
And finally Jesus says. “O woman , great is your faith”!
In what began with
silence ends with Jesus marveling at her.
She came asking Jesus
to heal her daughter and he does. But something else has happened too. She has come closer to Jesus. Amd may be that
is true for us too.
So when God seems silent, don't leave.
Keep praying. Keep coming closer.
And if you run out of words, borrow hers.
“Lord, help me”.
Because even in the silence, Jesus made might be much closer
than you think.
5. MEDITATION
https://youtu.be/OszElEtjrL0?si=s08KWfh90xmSIrsj
6. SHARING
7. PRAYER AND INTENTIONS
Dear Heavenly Father, I feel so weak and foolish when I come to You in prayer as I often do not know what I pray, or how to form the thoughts of my hearts into words that make sense.
But Lord, it is a comfort to read in the scripture that the Holy Spirit is there for me in all my weaknesses, including those times when I find it hard to pray. Thank You, Lord, that even when I don't know what to pray for or what God wants me to pray for, the Holy Spirit will somehow pray for me in an inexpressible way. Thank You for this great comfort to my soul.
Help me to pray in a way that is pleasing to You Lord, even when the words will not come. Help me to hate what is evil and cling to what is good. Help me be kind to others in love, and honour other people above myself. Please Lord, help me to be joyful in hope, patient in affliction and faithful in prayer, even when I don’t know what to pray.
Source: https://prayer.knowing-jesus.com/Prayers-on-Learning-How-to-Pray
8. SONG
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