Posted: 02 Mar 2009 11:00 PM PST
Is 55:10-11 / Mt 6:7-15
If someone were to ask us what God is like, most of us would speak in terms of a very dear Father who loved us so much that He sent His son to die for us. And we’d be right. But if that same person were to listen to our prayers, he might wonder if we were talking to the same God.
Many of us pray as if God had been absent for quite awhile and needed to be brought up to date. Many of us also pray as if God were a miser or a hard-nosed policeman, who doesn’t much like us, who doesn’t really want to forgive us, and who certainly doesn’t want to give us what we need. So, as Jesus says in the gospel, we rattle on, we beg, plead, and implore, and we even resort to bribery: “Lord, if you’ll let me win this game, I’ll go to Mass every day for a month,” and so on. We project our own smallness and neediness on God, we shrink God down to our size, and then we try to manipulate Him! What an illusion and what waste of time!
God already wants what’s best for us, and He’s long since promised to give us what we need — not necessarily what we want, but what we need! Our task in prayer is to trust that basic fact and to open our minds and hearts to God’s way of seeing things. God’s mind doesn’t need changing. Our minds and hearts do. They need to be reshaped into God’s likeness.
So relax in the Lord. Trust His love for you, and let Him reshape your heart. Real contentment will be your reward.
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Who is God? -- God is the Supreme Being, infinitely perfect, Who made all things and keeps them in existence. What do we mean when we say that God is the Supreme Being? -- When we say that God is the Supreme Being, we mean that He is above all creatures, the self-existing and infinitely perfect Spirit. What is a spirit? -- A spirit is a being that has understanding and free will, but no body, and will never die. What do we mean when we say that God is self-existing? -- When we say that God is self-existing we mean that He does not owe His existence to any other being. What do we mean when we say that God is infinitely perfect? -- When we say that God is infinitely perfect, we mean that He has all perfections without limit. What are some of the perfections of God? -- Some of the perfections of God are: God is eternal, all-good, all-knowing, all-present, and almighty.
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