The Pirate Prayer

 I had the opportunity yesterday to practice and experience what is laughingly called "The Pirate Prayer" because the initials of the four steps are AARRR.  We were given a passage of Scripture to ponder/ pray about, then the instructions, and then we went into the chapel to try it out.  The speaker was trying to show us that God does speak to us if we know how to listen and receive His words.  

I welcome you to try it out for yourself.  The passage we used was the Parable of the Sower, but you can try any passage of Scripture.  Read the passage slowly enough to absorb it.  Then try the following steps:

1.  ACKNOWLEDGE GOD.  Who is the God Who is listening to your prayer?  Who is He to you?  Who/ where has He been in your life.  In her desperation in the desert, Hagar, the Egyptian slave girl, called God:  You are the God of seeing (or "You are the God who sees me!")  At another time, she called Him "The God of hearing" (or "You are the ONe who hears me.")  

    As I started this exercise yesterday, I acknowledged God as "The ever-present God, The One Who is always present to me, the One who always listens to me."  That acknowledgement took me to a place of worship and lasted longer than I had anticipated.  I actually felt that I was in His presence for a few moments and had no desire to move on to the next step.  I just wanted to remain there.

2.  ACKNOWLEDGE WHAT IS IN YOUR HEART AS YOU READ THE SCRIPTURE. Become aware of your reactions and ask, "Why am I feeling this way?"  "What is behind my reaction?"  

    As I started reading the parable yesterday, I got just a little way into it before I found myself reacting to the line that said, Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it had not much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away.

At that point, I began to realize the depth of soil God had given me from the beginning:  a love of good books of all kinds, a Catholic school education, believing parents, nightly rosary with the family, etc.  And I began to grieve over those whose rearing had provided little or no "soil"/ soul for the seed -- the word of God.  I know God's word can penetrate behind closed doors, but I still mourn those whose childhood has been barren of any spiritual preparation.

3.  Relate what you are feeling back to God.  In my case, it was both gratitude and grief that I began to relate back to God about what I was feeling.  

4.   Receive what God says back to you, and Respond.  Here, what God "says" may not be in words at all, but in your thoughts and feelings.  What do you desire to do now?  Your desires are probably the action of the Holy Spirit in you and maybe should be obeyed.  And so, for the first time, I began to pray for those who have no spiritual background in their lives, praying that the Lord would send "laborers into the vineyard....to seek and save what is lost."

This is but one way of many to approach the Word of God in our lives.  But it is one way to ensure that the seed -- the Word of God -- will take root in our lives and bear fruit!

Why the Transfiguration?

 Today, the Gospel reading that of the Transfiguration of Jesus.  One of the things that strikes me about the Transfiguration is that Jesus wants us to know Him -- to really know Who He is.  Previously, he had asked the disciples, "Who do men say that I am?"  So we get the general view, from the outside, so to speak, of how people saw Jesus.  I think not much has changed since then.  People that I know see Jesus as a kind of exceptional man: a prophet, a great teacher, a super-spiritual human being.  

"But you," said Jesus, "who do you say that I am?"  And Peter suddenly knew who Jesus really was -- the Son of God.  Jesus was pleased at the revelation given to Peter, but it still wasn't enough.  Every one of us wants to be known, for one person, at least, to know who we really are.  We are made to be inhabited by at least one other person.  Genesis tells us that the man and his wife were "naked and unashamed."  It feels wonderful to be truly ourselves, without shame, with one other person.  No need for fig leaves, masks, or pretense in any area of our lives.

Peter knew that Jesus was the Son of God, but he had still not seen Jesus in His Glory, the radiance of a human being totally united with the Divine Presence.  Jesus revealed the totality of His Being to His friends.  They needed this vision to offset the one to come -- that of the Son of God nailed to a cross.  

In so much of our lives, the vision of God's Presence is veiled to us.  We cannot see; it is hard to believe that God is truly present to us.  But if we are willing to go up the mountain of prayer on a regular basis, we may catch a glimpse of the Presence.  God wants us to know Who He Is.  He revealed Himself in Scripture and in the Face of Jesus Christ.  But there is more:  sometimes in prayer, He will show Himself to His friends, and our reaction will be like Peter's:  "Lord, it is good for us to be here!"