PRAYER AND INTENTIONS

THURSDAY, EIGHTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP 

 1 Pet 2:2-5,9-12; Ps 100:2-5; Mk 10:46-52

What do you want me to do for You?

The encounter between our Lord Jesus Christ and Bartimaeus as he was leaving Jericho brings our attention to the subject of intentions for our prayers. Bartimaeus was sitting by the side of the road, begging for arms. When he heard that Jesus of Nazareth was passing, he cried to the Lord for help. He needed various things at that moment, but the one thing with priority was getting back his sight. This particular need took the position of priority because of the presence of faith in him, which made him cry out to Jesus for healing. For his faith in Jesus of Nazareth to be useful to him, he needed to get the attention of the Lord to put his request for sight through to him. Hence, he shouted at the top of his voice to win a hearing with the Lord. Though the shouting indicated his faith, it was not a sign of a strong faith. His persistence in shouting proved his strong faith better; his continuous shouting indicated a persistent desire to be heard by the Lord. This demonstrates the nature of prayer: a persistent desire to win a hearing with the Lord. For prayer to be a sign of strong faith, it must be continuous and persistent. Because faith has God as its object, it initiates the act of prayer continuously until it reaches its object, seeing no other means of satisfying its desires.

Just as in the case of Bartimaeus the blind beggar, physical needs prompt our desire to pray to God. But the need to pray surpasses these needs because true prayer originates from the spirit and seeks the satisfaction of our spiritual needs. The physical needs that initiate prayer in us are sacraments of our inner spiritual needs. Thus, in the case of Bartimaeus, his request for sight is only a sacrament of his desire to see, identify, and follow the Messiah. “Then Jesus spoke, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ ‘Rabbuni,’ the blind man said to him ‘Master, let me see again.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has saved you.’ And immediately his sight returned and he followed him along the road.” He received a physical sight as the sacrament of an inner need to see God by faith. He obtained this higher gift also, for he followed Jesus thenceforth. Thus, physical needs are always sacraments of our inner and spiritual needs, which are the main reason for the gift of prayer given to us. God gives us the gift of faith and the associated gift of prayer which is the vital operation of faith. Prayer is a spiritual activity that is geared towards the attainment of God our ultimate good.

So, for us who have come to know Jesus Christ through the gift of faith that we professed at baptism, by which the Holy Spirit dwells within us, St. Peter urges us to desire only spiritual milk from God. “You are newborn, and, like babies, you should be hungry for nothing but milk—the spiritual honesty which will help you to grow up to salvation—now that you have tasted the goodness of the Lord.” In order words, we are to pray more for spiritual needs than physical ones, knowing the incomparable worth of the spiritual goods to the physical goods. This is in keeping with the Lord’s injunction that we seek the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness and every other thing will be added unto us. But while we are still in this physical body, we cannot but pray for our physical needs, given a thousand and one evils that beset us here. We must also understand that as these physical needs are sacraments of spiritual needs, their satisfactions are delayed sometimes for the spiritual needs to be satisfied. Thus, when a prayer for a physical need is not granted, we must not despair or give up prayer, but rather intensify our prayer which works for the satisfaction of our spiritual needs. We learn from St. Paul, who prayed for physical healing to no avail. The Lord told him that his grace was sufficient for his weakness.  

Let us pray: Grant us, Lord, to pass from our former way of living and desiring to newness of life and desire in communion with the Holy Spirit, that we may make the required transition from sacraments of physical world to the heavenly and everlasting realities.