Friday, April 11, 2014

The Power of Prayer for The Joy of the Gospel


So the other day we had about an
 hour to kill before we had to go to a community for Mass. I was so excited to have this time during the day to pray.

For those who don't know, Rachel, Candice, and I are stationed in a small town called Mishualli, which has 54 communities surrounding it that belong to the Parish. Most of the communities are 'Kichwa,' a culture of indigenous people here in Ecuador that live in the jungle and have a strong since of work ethic. We have the great opportunity of living in one of the communities called 'Sinchi Warmi' which means 'strong woman' in Kichwa. This community is owned by one big family of nine siblings along with their individual families. It was built/being built as a tourist lodging place where visitors can stay in a cabaña(wood floors, bamboo walls, and a roof of palm leaves) explore the trails of the property, fish in their tilapia ponds, learn and enjoy life like the Kichwas. 

On the property they have a gazebo type cabaña overlooking one of the tilapia ponds. It is such a great place to pray. After making lunch, eating and cleaning up, I started to make my way over there, then checked my watch and realized I only had 20 minutes before we had to leave. Ahhhh Dios Yayalluna! ("My God" in Kichwa) Definitely not a sufficient amount of time, so I turned around and headed back to the house for another monotonous chore. 


I then thought back to the beginning of Intake when it was so "difficult" for me to devote only 20 minutes a day to pray with The Lord, and now 20 minutes isn't enough! Praise Be Jesus Christ for that!! That is the power of prayer. I was so ignorant when I didn't corporate prayer into my daily life, thinking I could make it through life without the help of God. 


Blessed John Paul II said, "Prayer to a Christian is like breathing!"

It is how we get strength from The Lord, how we know what HIS Will is for our lives, how we receive the gifts we need, how we recognize all the many blessings He gives us each and ever day, by entering into that intimate relationship with our God, reading His Word, listening for His voice, telling Him our joys and struggles, and asking for what we need. We have a compassionate God, loving like a Father who wants an intimate relationship with his child. 

Pope Francis' encyclical: The Joy Of the Gospel reiterates this message:

"Though it is true that this mission demands great generosity on our part, it would be wrong to see it as a heroic individual undertaking, for it is first and foremost the Lord’s work, surpassing anything which we can see and understand . . . This conviction enables us to maintain a spirit of joy in the midst of a task so demanding and challenging that it engages our entire life. God asks everything of us, yet at the same time he offers everything to us." (12)


If we think we can go through this life without the help our Lord, we are so very wrong. Before answering "Yes!" to The Lord's call for me to be His little missionary, I lived everyday for Him and was a devoted Catholic. I loved serving Him and others but I lacked this Spirit led life driven by prayer. 


In our wonderful cabaña, we have a few little problems: Rats. Roaches. Tarantulas. Bugs. Bugs. Bugs.
I remember when I lived at home and I once heard a tiny mouse that had fallen down from the attic into my wall... Guess who didn't sleep in her room that night...
I woke up to my dad looking down at me confused why I was sleeping on the couch.  He laughed at me and said, "It can't get you if it's in the wall!"

Well, now the only thing that separates me from a big ole rat is just a thin little bug net, and I sleep soundly through the night. WHY? Because I live out the Joy of the Gospel with a whole lot of help from The Lord and a whole lot of prayer!

 Being a missionary without prayer is impossible! Living out the fullest life possible as a Christian without prayer is impossible! I quickly changed this great lacking in my life and now CRAVE time to pray, and every day God shows me all the ways He blesses me. He constantly strengths me so I can "maintain a spirit of joy" while doing His Will. What a gift!

I challenge everyone who isn't setting aside time for personal prayer with God every day to start doing so. He has a great mission for each of our lives to do His work, to live out His Gospel, to be a tool He uses to bring about Eternal Salvation! What a mission! He wants to give us a great Joy "in the midst of a task that is so demanding and challenging." He wants to "offer us everything"! 


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