Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Pope Francis on Prayer & Miracle


Prayer and Miracles 
 
Pope Francis in his latest homily spoke of miracle and prayer. He said miracles do happen if our prayers are courageous,  struggling and perverting with great trust in God.

He then went on to relate the story of a Argentinian girl who fell ill and was expected to live but a few hours was miraculously healed after her father prayed intensely for her. Her father, an electrician, a man of faith … took a bus to the Marian shrine of Lujan, 70 kilometers away. He finally arrived after 9:00 p.m., when everything was closed. He began to pray, with his hands gripping the iron fence and he prayed, and prayed, and wept, and prayed … and that’s the way he remained all night long.

The man returned to the hospital the following morning and found his wife weeping. She told him that the doctors came and said the fever was gone and that she would live.

“This still happens,” the Pope reminded his listeners. “Miracles do happen.”
According to the Pope miracles happen but prayer is needed, prayer that is courageous, struggling and persevering, not prayer that is a mere formality.

I too agree with the Holy Father, that miracle may occur but we don’t just pray for them to happen but do everything within our means to make it happen. God doesn’t come in person to do some magic to answer our prayers but he will come in disguise to grant us what we need to get us out of our difficulties as long as we do the right thing to Him present in our midst. God sends us to be His miracle worker among men. 

Prayer is a very powerful weapon to give us the strength and courage in our struggles to stand up for right. I don’t know whether it will works miracles on the person for whom we pray but definitely works wonders in us to bring about those miracles. 

To me there are two types of prayers, prayer of sincerity that comes from the depth of our hearts and prayer of formality that comes just from our lips. The former is bold, courageous, persevering and often accompanied by tears of anguish as we reach out to God in faith when all others means have failed. It is often offered for the well-being and needs of others. The latter is just superficial and does not have any real meaning and is often a recitation of formal prayers memorized from young.

With this homily of Pope Francis let us reflect on our own attitude to prayer and miracle.

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