Talking vs Praying

Talking vs Praying

    I must say when I saw this quote " Have you prayed about it as much as you've talked about it?" it hit home.  How many times do we speak about what we want from life, the kind of job we want, the changes in our lives, the wife or husband we want, the vocation of life, etc.. Think how often you talk to people about all of those things. I will bet we all can say it is hundreds of hours if not more. Now how about in prayer? How often did you pray about all of those things? Are you even close to that number of hours you talked about them?

   I must admit I know that there is a great distance between those two numbers for myself. We tend to speak a lot to people about it because I feel that we look also for that input right away. Normally these kinds of talking involves a conversation and with that will come answers and input from whomever we are speaking to. Yet, if we go to prayer, we sometimes have to wait till we hear the voice of God or we are not fully clear on the messages we are receiving. There is not that instant gratification in the reply. We can talk once to a friend but in prayer it is something that we have to prayer for more often then just once most of the times. Praying about whatever we are seeking will have more of an impact and I will say is the best way to get the correct decision. 

   I am not saying that we do not seek others or talk about it because sometimes we need to have those opinions as well but they key part is that when we speak to others we need to take their answers into prayer after they share them. This way we are still praying for them and seeking if God was using them to help us with whatever we are seeking. This I know for many will not be easy. I know it is hard for me as well. Also we may talk more because we may be afraid of the answer we get in prayer. Once we get that answer in prayer, that answer can dramatically change our lives. It may be that answer you did not want to hear. You may now need to end a relationship, change a part of your life, add something to your life, change your path, etc… As we talk to people we tend to explain ourselves and that can influence them in their answers, but, with God we do not influence or convince Him. God shares the truth as it is, the direction our life is to take, where He sees it being best for us. Not how we see it best, or the direction we want to take. 

    This is something I need to work on. I need to pray more. Pray more then talking about it. Praying is an action of my soul. Talking is an action of my mouth. I know I have been in more trouble because of my mouth and realize that may be why I still are looking for answers in my life. My soul need to be brought into the life more in the form of prayer. How about yourself? Do you see that you talk more or pray more? 

Until tomorrow, God Bless, and may we learn that prayer should be used more then us using our mouths to talk.

Monday of the Fourth Week of Easter
Lectionary: 279

Reading 1

ACTS 11:1-18

The Apostles and the brothers who were in Judea

heard that the Gentiles too had accepted the word of God. 

So when Peter went up to Jerusalem

the circumcised believers confronted him, saying,

‘You entered the house of uncircumcised people and ate with them.” 

Peter began and explained it to them step by step, saying,

“I was at prayer in the city of Joppa

when in a trance I had a vision,

something resembling a large sheet coming down,

lowered from the sky by its four corners, and it came to me. 

Looking intently into it,

I observed and saw the four-legged animals of the earth,

the wild beasts, the reptiles, and the birds of the sky. 

I also heard a voice say to me, ‘Get up, Peter. Slaughter and eat.’ 

But I said, ‘Certainly not, sir,

because nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 

But a second time a voice from heaven answered,

‘What God has made clean, you are not to call profane.’ 

This happened three times,

and then everything was drawn up again into the sky.

Just then three men appeared at the house where we were,

who had been sent to me from Caesarea. 

The Spirit told me to accompany them without discriminating. 

These six brothers also went with me,

and we entered the man’s house. 

He related to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, saying,

‘Send someone to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter,

who will speak words to you 

by which you and all your household will be saved.’ 

As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them

as it had upon us at the beginning,

and I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said,

‘John baptized with water

but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 

If then God gave them the same gift he gave to us

when we came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,

who was I to be able to hinder God?”

When they heard this,

they stopped objecting and glorified God, saying,

“God has then granted life-giving repentance to the Gentiles too.”

Responsorial Psalm

PS 42:2-3; 43:3, 4

R. (see 3a) Athirst is my soul for the living God.

or:

R. Alleluia.

As the hind longs for the running waters,

so my soul longs for you, O God.

Athirst is my soul for God, the living God.

When shall I go and behold the face of God?

R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.

or:

R. Alleluia.

Send forth your light and your fidelity;

they shall lead me on

And bring me to your holy mountain,

to your dwelling-place.

R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.

or:

R. Alleluia.

Then will I go in to the altar of God,

the God of my gladness and joy;

Then will I give you thanks upon the harp,

O God, my God!

R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.

or:

R. Alleluia.

Gospel

JN 10:11-18

Jesus said:

“I am the good shepherd.

A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

A hired man, who is not a shepherd

and whose sheep are not his own,

sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away,

and the wolf catches and scatters them.

This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd,

and I know mine and mine know me,

just as the Father knows me and I know the Father;

and I will lay down my life for the sheep.

I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.

These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice,

and there will be one flock, one shepherd.

This is why the Father loves me,

because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.

No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own.

I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again.

This command I have received from my Father.”