JESUS THE WAY, TEACH US TO PRAY

In his song, LORD TEACH US TO PRAY, Joseph Wise —— (an American song writer and painter, who has published over 19 albums of Christian songs and was born in 1939) — says the following in the refrain:

Lord, teach us to pray,

It’s been a long and cold December kind of day.

With our hearts and hands all busy in our private little wars,

We stand and watch each other now from separate shores.

We lose the way.

Today, as we hear Jesus telling his followers that he is the way, the words of Joseph Wise are a reminder that in order not to lose that WAY, we must learn how to pray. Knowing how to pray is the door to finding and remaining on the way.

No doubt we are always saying that we are with Jesus, that we are on the way. We are with him when we read or listen to the word of God, in the Eucharist at Mass or during adoration, when we are gathered in prayer, in our neighbors, in the suffering, the sacraments and many other ways as we journey towards our rooms in the Father’s house; but we very often do not feel that warmth of walking with Jesus.  We do not experience him. We keep it mostly at the mind level!

This results in making ourselves very busy in private matters and standing on one shore with our struggles while we watch our brothers and sisters on another shore, struggling with theirs. We consequently end up getting lost!

If we learn to pray, if Christ the WAY teaches how to pray, then we shall recognize and actually experience him everyday. We shall move from sitting before the Blessed Sacrament and saying: “Lord Jesus you are in that sacred host”;  to saying: “My Jesus I feel your presence before me…….”. We shall move from saying “Lord Jesus, you said that you are in this suffering individual”; to saying: “My Jesus here before me, I want to touch you and do something good for you”.

To learn to pray and therefore avoid losing the way, will certainly mean abandoning our private little wars and coming together as one sheep-fold following the WAY.

Joseph wise, in one of the stanzas of the mentioned song says the following:

I stand so safe and sterile as I watch a man fall flat.

I’m silent with a man who’d like to know just where I’m at.

With the aged and the lonely I can barely tip my hat.

I need to see the sin of “I don’t care.”

With the present situation, when we are threatened by the Coronavirus, when some think that there is no way it is going to get to them, and others think that the danger has been overcome; we should learn how to pray: and that will mean recognizing Jesus who is everywhere with us and following him as he leads us. It means seeing the sin of I don’t care. It means giving some assistance, no matter how small, to our neighbor. It means leaving our comfort zones, areas where we feel safe, and making sure that we give our brothers and sisters a hand in their struggles. This will ultimately mean that these days, before you act,  please consider the others!!!! May be you do not fear the virus, but what about the ones you may take it to? Or what about those you may bring it back to from wherever you will have picked it up!! Oh! You say you are strong, that even if you catch it, you will get well by and by? But have you considered your neighbor who may not be as strong as you are? Please do not “stand so safe and sterile as you watch a man fall flat”.

Jesus is the way. As Joseph Wise says: do not LOSE THE WAY! See the sin of I don’t care and avoid it; and you will have contributed a lot to the winning of the Coronavirus pandemic battle.

We must not: “Stand and watch each other now, from separate shores”.

Sat 09, May 2020 19:05 pm