Meditation
for Tuesday of the 23rd Week in Ordinary Time
(1 Cor
6:1-11; Lk 6:12-19)
Let us meditate on Jesus who went into
the hills and prayed all night. We must take not of His choice of the hill top,
in the dark silent night. The time and environment points to the sacrifice of
prayer. To commune with God is a spiritual act, which requires certain bodily
discipline. Such discipline could be the timing or the location of the place of
prayer. Every discipline is targeted at reducing distractions and uplifting the
heart and mind to God.
From the hill of prayer, He moved
down to the ground, where human choices and actions were carried out. These
dynamics are important for us today. When the human action is powered by a heart
and mind sanctified in prayer, it becomes a contemplative action. The action
becomes a manifestation of the will of God. Sometimes when people want to make
important decisions, such as choosing a life partner, they may rely on their
human calculations alone. Some others may rely on extraordinary divine
manifestations to make such decisions. This is where fake prophets and
visionaries cash out from such gullible people. Action without prayer is dry;
prayer without action is empty and mere euphoric!
“In the same way, the Spirit helps
us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit
himself intercedes for us through wordless groans” (Rm 8:26). The choice of each
of the apostles was the fruit of an all-night prayer, still Jesus chose them
after working closely with them as his followers. Prayer supplies the inspiration
without which we cannot promptly act according to the will of God. “But you
were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ and the in the Spirit of our God.” Amen.
Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints Peter & Paul Catholic
Church,
Tedi-Muwo, Ojo, Lagos.
Tuesday September 6th,
2022.
