“The person who thinks only of himself says only prayers of petition; the one who thinks of his neighbor says prayers of intercession; whoever thinks only of loving and serving God says prayers of abandonment to God’s will, and this is prayer of the saints.” Venerable Fulton J Sheen
I guess that I am not a saint!
Nathanael has no guile in his heart. He had no ulterior motives. He only sought the will of God. I am not so sure that I have the prayers of abandonment to God’s will. I mostly pray for others. I know God will give me enough, but enough for me might be too much for what God intends for me. I have always heard that you have to ask God if you want something (Matthew 7:7-8) then ask.
So how do we reach abandonment to God’s will?
My focus for the New Year is to put God’s will as my resolution for this year. Most of us have already broken our more mundane goals for 2024. I am talking about spiritual goals.
When we say the Our Father daily we say, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done.” Here again we have the Kingdom of God and the will of God in the same breath.
So, it seems that we have to ask Jesus’ name us but accept with an open-heart God’s outcome. Right now, I am praying for a close family member to go into a nursing home. It is clear that neither her nor her children are capable of -taking care of her needs as a human being. The problem is she does not want to go. Nonetheless, it is clear that she can’t continue in her present situation.
Ash Wednesday is February 14th. My spiritual goal before Lent is to have Nathanael’s abandonment to the will of God in my life.
God Love You Always
Bob Burford
PS: Please Pray for Cancer victims and their caregivers. Pray for the conversion of Russia and the salvation of the Ukrainian and Russian people and their soldiers. Pray for the Holy Land. Pray for children everywhere who are suffering. Pray for peace!
