Tuesday – 30th Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel – Luke 13:18-21

The Science of Prayer

Anointing Stone, Church of Holy Sepulchre

 

For such a short Gospel reading today, there are a number of beautiful visual images – mustard seed, birds of the air, yeast, wheat flour and dough.  But you already know where this is going.  Let’s talk about baking!!

I have become reasonably proficient in baking my ‘peasant bread’. Even so one little mistake can make the bread a complete disaster!  Too much water, too little yeast, not enough time to rise or too much time in the oven!  It’s a delicate balance and all the ingredients have to work in the right proportions and the proper combination for the bread to be beautiful to look at and delicious to eat.  Baking really is a science.  There is a recipe to follow and you must do so religiously.  There is no room for experimenting with a pinch of this or a splash of that!  You can’t just throw things together!  It just won’t work!  

Is our prayer life any different?  It’s not just about making time or effort or place or focus or thoughtfulness.  In order for our prayer life to grow much less even exist, there needs to be a combination of all and so much more!  Otherwise prayer becomes unproductive and fruitless!; it can just be a rush of words with no heart or soul. I could have all the time in the world but time alone is not enough!  There needs to be a unity of purpose and ingredients; otherwise the bread (our prayer life) becomes flat and insipid.  And just as the yeast needs to penetrate the entire batch of dough in order to produce a good loaf of bread, so too our prayer life needs to penetrate and infuse our entire human life.

Great Spirit, today I will pray to You all day!  Listen to my words and my heart!

 

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