Prayer is like a good meal to me. It fills a need, gives me strength for the day, and satisfies my hunger. One type of nourishment, food, fuels the body, while another type, prayer, fuels the soul. Our body uses our daily nourishment and expels the waste. What about our prayers? Do souls really get the most from their prayers?
I recently heard a clip from Ven. Bishop Fulton Sheen on Catholic radio. He commented, “The person who thinks only of himself says only prayers of petition; the one who thinks of his neighbor says prayers of intercession; whoever thinks only of loving and serving God says prayers of abandonment to God’s will, and this is the prayer of the saints.”
The person who thinks only of himself says only prayers of petition.
Wow! This was a revelation to me. How many times a day do I inform God of my needs for me? Literally, hundreds! Throughout daily mass I pray, “Please Lord, keep my children safe today. Don’t let them give into evil. Help so and so at work be kinder to me. Let there be peace in my home.” I drone on until the good Lord probably cannot take anymore.
Well, I am performing prayers of petition. This does not mean that asking for things for ourselves or family is wrong. On the contrary, He desires it! However, Ven. Bishop Sheen says the person who only thinks of himself says only petition prayers. I am sure 70 percent of my prayers fall in this category.
The one who thinks of his neighbor says prayers of intercession
How about the next category? Yes, I very often pray for neighbors and those who need it. “Please Lord, help John find a job. Let this family heal. Please bring about conversion is that family. Please help that person taken in an ambulance.” Again, worthy prayers. I also intercede a lot, but maybe 25 percent.
Whoever thinks only of loving and serving God says prayers of abandonment to God’s will, and this is the prayer of the saints.”
Now to the last part of Sheen’s wise words. Whoever thinks only of loving and serving God, says prayers of abandonment. Okay, I can assess right off the bat this makes up about 5 percent of my prayer time. How sad! This is certainly the hardest type of prayer. If I only served and loved God only, I would be praying to abandon myself to God’s will. How difficult it is to let go of the control stick. I want to hang on. It’s comfortable. It’s what I know. It is my prayers for me, neighbor, or someone else. However, it may not be God’s will at all!
Oh yes, there are times when I pray with abandonment. Times when I have finally come to an end of failed attempts to do things my way. I’ve exhausted myself and the good Lord, by telling him to do it in my way, in my time, with my results! I am finally up against a wall with nowhere to go. “Lord, what is your will?” How wonderful it would have been had I asked this from the beginning.
The Lord loves our trust in Him! He wants to take care of us to the last detail. We are His children. We are not His master, He is ours. Jesus’s love and will for us is always the best and shortest route to sanctity.
and this is the prayer of the saints.”
During the 60s and 70s, the Catholic thinking in our home was pray to become a saint one day! Oh, not necessarily a canonized one, but to live a saintly life. How far we have come from that thinking! Bishop Sheen and all the saints lived this way. Our Lady completely abandoned herself to God’s will. We now enjoy the results of her abandonment in prayer.
After pondering over Ven. Bishop Sheen’s words, I had a flashback of my youth. Inspired by the saint stories my mom read us, I earnestly prayed, “Lord, make me a saint,” meaning “make me holy.” I had forgotten all about it. However, one way to improve it is by adding an abandonment prayer to petition and intercessory prayers; “Lord, your will be done!” I recall the founder of my Secular Franciscan Order teaching us, “God makes you the saint He wants you to be.”
“The essence of perfection is to embrace the will of God in all things, prosperous or adverse. In prosperity, even sinners find it easy to unite themselves to the divine will; but it takes saints to unite themselves to God’s will when things go wrong and are painful to self-love. Our conduct in such instances is the measure of our love of God.” St Alphonsus de Liguori
Trust comes with the prayer of abandonment. The signature on the Divine Mercy image states it best, “Jesus, I trust in You!”
Copyright 2015, Mary Mitchell
Mary Mitchell
Mary Mitchell, from Chicago, is a devout Catholic who likes to mix the divine truth with humor. She thinks it's the only way we can get through this life! Mary is the mother of three and has been married to her husband, Philip, more than 20 years. She has attempted to live the vows as a Secular Franciscan for about 20 years, but has a long way to go.
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