Gospel Commentary: Up the Mountain to Pray

By Fr. Jack Peterson
Herald Columnist
(From the issue of 3/4/04)

Pope John Paul II, in his Message for Lent 2004, reminded the world of the age old triptych displayed for our prayerful reflection during this 40 day journey: "Dear Brothers and Sisters, let us set out with trust on our Lenten journey, sustained by fervent prayer, penance, and concern for those in need."

Today’s Gospel provides us with a chance to ponder the radical need for prayer that dwells at the core of every human being. "Jesus took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain to pray." (Lk 9: 28) Let’s take a look at the three disciples and see what we can learn from them.

The first thing they did was fall asleep. Rather typical of this crew actually. Many Christians share this fault. We do not pray well because when we try to pray we fall asleep. This happens for a variety of reasons. We often do not sleep enough to pray well. Also, we slow down so little that when we do slow down to pray we are easily "overcome by sleep." Another problem is that we often leave our prayer to the end of the day. When prayer is our last priority, it gets a poor share of our daily energies and prayer requires energy. Perhaps this Lent, we might make some adjustments to our lifestyle in order to give God a larger portion of our attention and energy so that He does not have to try to converse with a snoring child.

Once the three disciples finally awoke, "they saw his glory." It helps to get away from the normal routine of life to see God’s glory. Too often our daily prayer is a form of "maintenance" prayer. We just say "hello" and go through a routine in order to stay in touch. However, we need times when we are able to dive more deeply into our relationship with God. We need moments when we clear away the garbage of our lives including our sinfulness, our self-interest, and our concerns and allow Christ to reveal himself in a much more profound way. We need to gaze upon the very face of Christ and see his glory shining upon us. Retreats are great for this. When was the last time you made a retreat? Perhaps a day or weekend retreat is the best Lenten offering you could make to God this year. If not, make a point to add some longer times for prayer this Lent, preferably in front of the Blessed Sacrament and not at the end of your day.

Finally, the Father spoke to the three disciples and proclaimed: "This is my chosen Son, listen to him." How much do I listen in prayer? Another common struggle for Christians is that we tend to do a great deal of talking when we pray. This is not a bad thing; we should thank God, ask for forgiveness, and offer prayers of intercession each day. However, we also need to spend time being quiet in his presence, listening to Him. Meditating upon the scriptures or prayerfully reading from a good spiritual book can be a way to do that, or at least to get started. In the end, we need to make sure that we try to hear what the Lord is trying to say personally to each of us this day.

May the Holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts grant us all the grace to grow deeply in our prayer life this Lent.

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