Pray for Sunshine

“Say a prayer we get some sunshine next Saturday. We have our chicken dinner and we really do need a fine day for it to be a success!” You will have heard that kind of prayer before. Do you remember the day you prayed for the sun to shine for the children’s picnic only to see the clouds burst apart just as you set out? We have all offered up prayers like that from time to time. We are quite well aware that the Lord has a problem here because down the road the market gardener is praying for rain to give his vegetables a chance to grow. More seriously, you may have prayed for the cure of a relative or friend dying of cancer. Perhaps you felt your prayer was not heard. Perhaps you had a passing doubt about the value of prayer itself, even a doubt about God.
Think for a moment about our Lord’s deeply moving prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. “Father,” he said, “if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, let your will be done, not mine.” Jesus gives us the real key to prayer: it is in being attuned to the will of God. You may ask God for what you wish, but open your heart to God’s will and you find peace! The point is that God really does love us, he really does want us to be happy, and he really does know what is truly best for us. If we are wise we will indeed listen to him!
Once we realize the first truth of our faith – that God loves us – then we know that his love reaches out to us even before we can think of it. We do not have to struggle to make contact with him. The rather grand phrase that our Catechism used to describe prayer,” the raising of the mind and heart to God,” is simply a way of stating that God’s love is pouring over us, within us, embracing us, giving us life, and we have only to open our hearts to it! The love of God is there all of the time. Just as a child does not have to make great efforts to attract the attention of a loving mother, neither do we have to tie ourselves in knots of anxiety in order to have the attention of God.