Homily at St Dyfrig’s, Treforest, All Hallows’, Miskin and Ss Gabriel & Raphael, Tonypandy, for the 1st Sunday of Lent, Year A.
You must worship the Lord your God and serve Him alone.
How are you doing with that?
Apart from what you’ve just done at this Mass, when did you last pray?
For most of us, prayer is an invitation, not an obligation.
Unless you’ve joined a religious order or made a private vow, you are under no obligation to pray in any particular time or in any particular way, apart from coming to Mass on Sundays.
When you are preparing to make a good confession, do you ask yourself, “Did I say my morning prayers?” Maybe that’s not the most helpful question, because prayer is a lifestyle, not a labour.
What’s important is not that you spend 2 or 5 or 10 minutes saying certain words when you wake up or before you go to bed, but that you give God the place He deserves in your life – which is first place.
The most useful advice I was ever given in seminary was: “If you don’t pray first, you won’t pray.”
Now that could mean praying as your first act on regaining consciousness in the morning. But it could mean the first 10 minutes when the kids have headed off to school, or 5 minutes at the end of the working day before you drive the car home. When is the first opportunity in your daily rhythm to give God a few quality minutes of your time? A better question to ask ourselves is “Did I put my relationship with God first today?”
Jesus went off to the wilderness not only to fast, but to pray. He made space in his life to reconnect with God. Later he would spend whole nights in prayer. We too have the possibility of going off to a monastery or convent to spend time away – and next Saturday we’ll also have a chance to spend a few hours in prayer at our parish Day of Recollection. But a day of prayer needs to be balanced with daily prayer. So how might we start?
We all have to eat. Giving thanks for food is one of the most basic prayers. The Jewish people had many special blessings for meals, and we know whenever Jesus ate, he first gave thanks to God. If you aren’t sure what prayer to use, but you like variety, you can get a grace cube with six different prayers so you can “roll a prayer” at each mealtime.
Giving thanks for food leads us to giving thanks for nature. In Genesis, we heard that the fruit of garden was “enticing to look at and good to eat”. Many people find a walk in the open air is a very contemplative thing to do, and yes, we can find God in a garden. But the beauty of the fruit led humanity into a trap, the trap of putting the delight of their eyes before the Word of God. For though one fruit looked delicious, God has said “don’t eat it”.
We find the Word of God in the pages of the Bible and the ancient Tradition of the church which dates back to the Apostles. Jesus had to know the Bible really well to avoid falling into the trap of the Devil quoting verses out of context. Maybe this Lent is an invitation for us to pick up the Bible and start reading. There are lots of good study aids around, not least the Bible In A Year podcast – and you can take more than a year to do it!
In our second reading today, the Bible reminded us that we are all sinners, but Jesus has the power to restore us. So an important prayer for each of us is asking mercy from God for our sins – for the little daily sins, a prayer is enough, though it’s good to come to confession at least once a year, especially in Lent. There are two benefits to confession: first, you will leave certain that all your sins are forgiven, and second, because it is a sacrament, God promises you divine help to fight against future temptation.
Perhaps when you think of prayer you think first of asking God for things. That’s OK. Jesus did teach us to ask for our daily bread. But let’s be careful of falling into the trap of bargaining with God: If you do X for me, I will do Y for you – as Jesus said, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test!”
When we start asking God for things, let’s remember to ask for other people. Pope Francis has taught about prayer using our fingers: Thumb for those closest to us, pointing finger for our teachers, tallest finger for our leaders, weakest finger for those in most need, and the littlest finger for ourselves.
All of these ways of praying are important. But what’s most important is that we pray in a way which feels natural and fits into our daily life. Prayer doesn’t just happen; it’s a choice. We all have to wait in queues from time to time; with a rosary in your pocket, every delay can be a moment to pray. If you have a mobile device and you find yourself wasting hours mindlessly scrolling, why not put a prayer app on your phone and give those hours to God?
Today’s message is an invitation to growth, not despair. I am not here to condemn anyone for prayers which haven’t been said. I am here to encourage you to do one small thing to grow in love for God, and that love is shown best by giving God some quality time each day.
You must worship the Lord your God and serve Him alone. We have an Enemy who doesn’t want you to do that. But it’s your choice, not his. So why not choose one new opportunity? A prayer before your journey home? Grace at your next meal? A look back at this day at bedtime? Disappoint the devil. Today is a good day to pray.