PRAYER ON BASIS OF FAITH
The theme for our meditation today is: Prayer on the Basis of Faith. Saint John Chrysostom, a native of Antioch in Syria and is known as the greatest Father of the Church of the Eastern Catholic Church. As an educated person, he was highly qualified in preaching and teaching Christianity. Because of his excellence in explaining the knowledge of God, faith and the Word of God, he was given a specific name "Chrysostomo" which means the golden mouth.
Gold is a symbol of the highest excellence of thing that is appropriately applied to God. The Lord God as the source of all goodness and truth reveals Himself as the highest spiritual treasure, that we can come to Him and obtain from Him all the graces we need. The means to reach Him and receive blessings from Him is when we pray and connect our souls to Him.
As believers, we really pray on the basis of faith. This prayer is always manifested through the expressions of gratitude, praise or petition addressed to the God we believe in. We believe that He hears us and will answer our prayers. There are many forms of praying based on faith. There are two characteristics of praying based on faith that are mandated by our readings today.
The first is the generous prayer. This is when one prays for all those who need God's blessings. Saint Paul in his first letter to Timothy gives an advice that we should always pray for all people, including the government officials and rulers of our country. Through these prayer we participate in God's work to save all mankind.
The opposite of the generous prayer is a stingy, discriminatory and racial prayer. This is definitely not what God wants. Prayers that only focus on the success of oneself and one's own group, to bring bad luck and harm to others, to take revenge; these are the evil prayers and very displeasing God.
The second is the prayer asking for God's intervention in urgent matters. This is what happened to the Roman centurion who urged Jesus to heal his dying servant. In emergency and urgent situations accompanied by sincere expressions of faith, we hope that God will immediately give His grace as a solution to our problems and sufferings. Praying on the basis of faith is absolute in all of our prayer activities. Now the decision is ours, whether we want to do it or not.
Let's pray. In the name of the Father... O Jesus Christ, strengthen our faith as we pray to the Father as You yourself have taught us. May we are always committed do Your will and not our own will. Hail Mary full of grace... In the name of the Father...