Gulf Pine Catholic
•
June 3, 2016
5
Midway Family Care
Walk-In Clinic is a primary
care medical facility offering
an affordable alternative...
Office Visits
$
60
00
1009 Byrd St. (at Hwy. 90)
Ocean Springs, MS
H. Todd Coulter, M.D.
228-875-7474
MIDWAY FAMILY CARE
Walk-In Clinic
Prices starting at $2,499 ~ with airfare included
in this price from anywhere in the USA
Many trip destinations: the Holy Land; Italy;
France; Portugal; Spain; Poland; Medjugorje;
Lourdes; Fatima; Ireland; Scotland; England;
Austria; Germany; Switzerland; Turkey; Greece;
Budapest; Prague; Viking Cruises; Caribbean
Cruis-es; Our Lady of Guadalupe; Colombia;
Brazil; Argentina; Domestic Destinations; etc…
We also specialize in custom trips
for Bishops, Priests, and Deacons
(Hablamos Español)
855-842-8001
508-340-9370
call us 24/7
9274 Hwy 49/Airport
Gulfport, MS 39503
228-863-5525
1-800-880-2446
FAX: 228-863-9612
Thank you,
St. Jude,
for prayers
answered. AN
My book,
Heart To Heart With God -- Six Ways to
Empower Your Prayer Life
-- Word Among Us Press,
has a chapter titled,
“Praying Boldly.”
In preparing to
write this chapter I resolved to
pray more boldly. Whenever I
had a conversation with someone
and they indicated a problem
or need I immediately said,
“Let’s pray now,” held their
hands and prayed openly and
extemporaneously on the spot.
Soon people were coming back
to me and relating how God had
answered the prayer we prayed.
So I kept a daily record of prayers
answered and for three-months
recorded in a journal, ‘a miracle
a day.’ During that time answers
to prayer were reported to me
daily, one as late as 11:50 pm.
Everything from manifestations of serious physical
healings to finding a lost cat but included a host of day
to day concerns we brought to God in prayer. I still pray
boldly, on the spot, and still receive reports not only
of actual answers to prayer but where the faith of the
person prayed for was increased because they are more
attentive to God working in their lives. My advice; the
next time someone tells you about a concern, don’t just
walk away and promise to pray -- take their hands and
pray on the spot. Your faith and theirs will be increased.
Our readings today provide guidelines for praying
boldly. Elijah was in a pagan land, outside Jewish
territory. But it did not stop him from praying on the
spot for a widow’s only son at the point of death. In
Psalm 30, David cries out to God for help and is rescued
just in time. In our second reading, Paul gives example
on preparing to serve Jesus Christ. In today’s gospel,
Jesus boldly faces death by reversing its curse and
returning a dead child to his mother.
In Luke’s Gospel (4:25-29) Jesus infuriated the
Jewish elders by reminding them that their rebellion
against God mimicked the unfaithfulness of their
ancestors. He pointed to God’s choice of a widow of
Zarephath, a pagan, over all the widows in Israel to care
for Elijah during a drought. They knew the story. God’s
faith in this pagan woman was better received than His
faith in Israel because she did God’s bidding while the
Israelites rejected God’s ways and commands. In our
first reading, the widow of Zarephath is distressed over
the sickness and then death of her only son and blames
Elijah for the problem. She reasoned if it was not for
the holy prophet’s presence in her house, God may have
not paid attention to her and therefore known about her
pagan ways and would not punish her by killing her
son.
It’s interesting the way we try to hide our
imperfections from God as if He did not know them
better than we do. We are wary about getting too close
to God because His light of holiness illuminates the
darkest areas of our lives. But the Zarephath woman
was about to learn a precious truth that would set her,
and us, free to love, honor and worship God. Through
the intercession of God’s holy prophet the widow’s
only son is brought back to life and given back to her as
God’s special expression of His love. In closing today’s
first reading she replies, “Now I know that you are a
man of God. The word of the Lord comes truly from
your mouth” (1 Kings 17:24).
The lesson for us is clear. Elijah didn’t delay taking
action to petition the Lord for a miracle -- he prayed on
the spot. Our bold prayer for God’s miraculous will to
be accomplished in any and every situation will allow
people to know the God we serve because the word of
the Lord is expressed boldly in prayer.
Psalm 30 is David’s prayer of thanksgiving for
deliverance. There are four parts to the prayer:
1. Praise and thanks for God’s rescue and restoration.
2. Inviting others to join him in prayer. 3. Remembering
the agony suffered before his prayer and God’s favorable
answer. 4. Encouraged by God’s positive intervention
he adopts a habitual attitude of prayer, praise and
thankfulness regardless of the circumstances. Anyone
sincerely adopting this four part lesson will empower
their faith and prayer life.
Paul’s radical conversion from persecutor of the
Church to receiving Christ’s call to apostleship focuses
light on God’s plan for all believers. First, Paul attributes
his call and empowerment to divine rather than human
origin -- it came directly from Jesus Christ. All of us, by
virtue of our baptism are missionary disciples of Christ.
The Church Christ established has commissioned us to
proclaim Christ with the various gifts we have received.
Some will preach, others teach, some are prayer warriors
never ceasing to petition Christ for someone else’s well-
being, others by their loving and caring service. But
whatever our gift we must first come to know personally
the Lord we will proclaim. Paul speaks of immersing
himself with retreat-like intensity for three years with
Christ. He came to know Jesus Christ personally and
intimately then went out to share Jesus with others.
What prayers and practices of the Church are you
taking advantage of to get to know Christ intimately?
SEE SUNDAY SCRIPTURE
COMMENTARIES, PAGE 8
1st Reading: 1 Kings 17:17-24
Responsorial Psalm: 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11-13
2nd Reading : Galatians 1:11-19
Gospel: Luke 7:11-17
10th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Praying Boldly
Deacon Torrell
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Sunday
Scripture
Commentaries
