25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

There is a story of an old man looking back on his life. One day he sits with his friends in a tea shop telling his story. He says, “When I was young I was fiery. I wanted to awaken everyone. So, I prayed to God to give me the strength to change the world. In mid-life, I awoke one day and realized my life was half over and I had changed no one. So, I prayed to God to give me the strength to change those close around me and who so much needed it. Alas, now I am old and realize I haven’t seen much change in people around me. Therefore, my prayer now is simpler. I ask God to give me the strength to at least change myself.”
We hear a similar instruction from Saint Paul in today’s second reading. Since prayer is very important in worship, Paul tells them what to pray, for whom to pray, why to pray and how to pray. First of all he divides prayer into four types – supplications/requests, petitions, thanksgivings and prayers.
Paul then talks about two essential conditions for prayer. The first condition is that they must pray with holy hands lifted up. Praying with arms extended and raised was a Jewish practice. “Lifting up hands” in prayer is a humble expectation of receiving something from God. Moreover, Paul says that they must pray “lifting up holy hands”. What he means is that they must stand before God with clean hands, blameless and holy. Second, he asks them to pray “without anger or argument”. In other words, while praying they should have no anger or animosity towards others for whom they pray.
What do we learn from the instruction of Paul for our own faith life?
As we pray it is important that we are inwardly and outwardly right with God. Whether we stand or sit or kneel or lift our hands or bow our head, let us pray with love, reverence and devotion. Let us repent for our sins before we pray for our needs and expect God to answer. Let us avoid praying to God while in anger and filled with hatred for others. As Jesus tells us we must reconcile with others before we make our offering to Him. A person who has no peace within himself cannot pray and get answers from God. Blessed Mother Teresa once observed, “God rarely is found in the midst of noise and restlessness; instead, He is the friend of silence.”
Let us remember that we pray not so much that the world might be changed, but so that we might be changed. Let us pray not so much that God will do our will, but so that his will may be done, and that it may be done at least in part, in us and through us.