This Year in Prayer

The end of a calendar year is usually accompanied by various summary of the year past.  There's the summary of major new stories, major sporting events, the most popular movies or music, or even who has died.  Many of us do the same, often summarized in a newsletter that accompanies our Christmas cards.

But do we do that with our prayer life?

Having not seen others do this, I thought I would write my reflections about 2013 in prayer.  What were the high points and the setbacks?

Overall, it's been a year where there was much to pray for.  As I write this, I'm reminded that too often we only turn to prayer in bad times, times of stress or sorrow, illness or death.  Yet, we don't often remember to pray in thanksgiving when we are not in such urgent need.

Starting with thanksgiving, I released my 2nd CD of sacred music this July.  I've been blessed with the talent to write music in praise of our God, and to have so many friends and fellow parishioners who contributed to the project.  Overall my health has been good and I have been able to do well in my profession, being recognized by my colleagues and company in various ways.

On the other side are two of many relatives and friends living with cancer.  They were in special need of prayers this year in their respective battles.  But both reached that point where it was time.  As each of them were believing Christians, they were able to come to peace with the inevitable, and passed in peace.  Yet, there is still great sadness at their passing.

Another friend seemed plagued by illnesses in her young family, including her newborn and herself.  At times, it seemed overwhelming:  why was all this happening to her?  I think praying for her helped give her support and many of the illnesses have passed, even as a new one has emerged.

And there were challenges in my family, too.  At times, we did not know what to do or not do.  At times, prayer was helpful, asking God for guidance.  But as the situation was more immediate, I failed at depending on prayer and faith in God's guidance.  I let worry take over too much when I didn't know how to respond.   For the moment, these challenges have subsided, but not gone away.

While I have had both successes and setbacks in my prayer life this year, still, I have come to be a stronger believer in the need for prayer, to put before God our lives as they are, to thank God for the goodness, to seek God's guidance, and to ask God to touch the lives of others with healing and mercy.

Your Nature: A Reflection on the Trinity

Shortly after its formation, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation employed a tag line describing its many natural resources under its care: “It’s Your Nature.”

I think this phrase it one way to think of the Trinity:  It’s your nature.

How is the Trinity our nature?  Well, we believe we are created in the image and likeness of God.  We believe we are the children of God.  In any family, we say “the fruit does not fall far from the tree” and “notice the family resemblance.”  The child and the parent are of the same nature.

As children of God, our nature is the same nature as God’s.  And the nature of God is three persons in one God, each manifesting one aspect of God’s nature:  creating, redeeming, sanctifying.

God cannot help but be creative.  The creation we know as the universe is the inevitable outcome of the creative God.  So is this precious gift of life we all have been given. 

We find that human nature is also very creative.  We may first think of “creative” people such as artists and musicians who create works of beauty, works that can move us.  Artists cannot help but create.

We also think of our creative nature as our ability, in love, to bring to conception new life.  This act of creation does not end with birth, but is lifelong.  It is manifest in the nurturing love of parents.  It is manifest in relatives and friends who support and sustain this nurturing environment.  It continues in loving partners, and finally in loving caretakers. 

We see this creative nature also in our ability to care for and sustain the creation all around.

If we know this creative nature shared by our God and ourselves, we come to view in awe the many magnificent aspects of creation that is all around.

God cannot help but redeem.  It is God’s nature to dispel darkness with light, to dispel sin with forgiveness, to dispel death with new life.   This is why the resurrection was inevitable.  Death has not power over the redemptive nature of God.

And we, too, can redeem..  We can bring light into the darkness.  We can offer a second chance, we can offer hope, we can offer forgiveness.

After the Marathon bombings, we saw our redemptive nature in the numerous selfless acts of so many who assisted the victims.  That so many acted to bring hope into despair, to bring good into the chaos of evil – this is simply manifest of the fact that we share in the same redemptive nature as God.

But, these redemptive acts are not just an option we have, a nice thing we should do.  It is what we must do.  If we do not forgive those who have done us wrong, we are holding back, we are hindering God’s redemptive nature from being made manifest in other’s lives.  When we forgive, when we bring hope, when we bring light, we enable God to redeem.

God cannot help to sanctity, to bring council and knowledge and wisdom, to provide us the grace and blessings to live and grow in faith.

It is likewise our nature to guide and nurture.  We do this by graciously accepting the grace and blessings and receive and by living our faith.  We do this within a community of faith, where we support and sustain each others.  We do this by prayer.

So why do we celebrate the Solemnity of the Trinity?  We are not likely the crack the age-old mystery of one God in three Persons.  But, rather, we can reflect on the nature of the Triune God.

This is God’s nature.

It’s our nature.