“Devoting themselves to prayer”

In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we hear about a group of apostles and disciples.  This group includes “the women and Mary the mother of Jesus…”  They return from the mount called Olivet, from where Jesus had just ascended to heaven, to Jerusalem.  We might think that they would rush out to tell people of the momentous event they had just witnessed.

However, they have been instructed to wait for the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and so they have another ten days in which to pray and prepare carefully for the mission ahead.  We hear, “All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer…”

In the Gospel reading, we hear more from Jesus’ “Farewell Discourse” at the Last Supper which has featured a lot in recent weeks.  Another name for Jesus’ words here is “The High Priestly Prayer.”  Jesus actually says, “I am praying for them.  I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me…”

So, here we are in this crucial time between the Ascension which was last Thursday and Pentecost which is next Sunday.  We too are also called to deepen our prayer.  Nearly always, when prayer is spoken about, some mention is made of how difficult it is to pray.  A few weeks ago I introduced a way of praying using Holy Scripture.

This particular method of praying is called “Imaginative Contemplation” and involves putting yourself in a particular scene or event in the Bible and imagining yourself to be one of the people present.  You could be an unknown and unnamed person, a disciple, a Pharisee, a blind beggar or even Jesus himself.  The idea is to pray through the scripture through the experience, thoughts and emotions of one person.

At masses this weekend, I am going to talk about another powerful way of praying that should be familiar to most people: The Rosary.  In May, Mary’s month, and as we too await the celebration of Pentecost next Sunday, there is an opportunity to pray the Rosary after the two main weekend masses.  Let us renew our devotion to this great prayer.  

God bless, Fr Kevin.