Act or Attitude of Prayer?

WORD 2day: Saturday, 32nd week in Ordinary time

November 16, 2019: Wisdom 18: 14-16,19:6-9; Luke 18: 1-8

Our help is in the name of the Lord, proclaims Psalm 124. The Lord alone is our refuge and our strength. The Lord knows when we sit and when we stand, even before a word is on our mouth, the Lord knows it all. This trust is called the attitude of prayer - a total abandonment into the hands of the Lord! 

Isn't it opportune here to dwell a little on the act of prayer and the attitude of prayer? Not that the act of prayer is any less valuable, but what is important to be cultivated within  us and in our younger generations is more the attitude of prayer, which covers more than just an instance, the entire life and the lifetime.

At times when we pray, we sound like knocking at the door of the Lord as the last resort...'I have tried everything Lord; and now I have nothing more to try and so I come to you!' This is one of a typical act of prayer - is this wrong? No. Definitely not wrong. But certainly, not the ideal or the best. 

The disposition has to be clear from the first moment: "You are everything Lord and I surrender myself to you; guide me along and accompany me, that I may never stray from Your will and guard me from all those which plot to take me away from You and Your holy will. Yes, I will do my best but I know even the best is not truly sufficient. It is your holy will that completes everything and I surrender myself to it." This is an attitude of prayer!

Let us live our life with the Lord - every bit of it - our duties, our desires, our trials, our preoccupations; let us live them all with the Lord and be prepared always to say: Not mine, but Your will be done, O Lord! (Lk 22:42)