Saturday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
May 25, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/052524.cfm

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Beloved:
Is anyone among you suffering?
He should pray.
Is anyone in good spirits?
He should sing a song of praise…

…The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful.
Elijah was a man like us;
yet he prayed earnestly that it might not rain,
and for three years and six months it did not rain upon the land.
Then Elijah prayed again, and the sky gave rain
and the earth produced its fruit.
James 5:13; 16-18

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James tells us that prayer must be woven seamlessly into our lives. His remarks may remind us of Paul’s well-known exhortation to “Pray always!”

In our Gospel, Jesus tells us that a childlike innocence is essential to full union with God. In prayer, we are with God the way a child is with a loved and trusting parent. Jesus taught us this when he chose to begin his prayer, “Our Father …”

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

We ask for the grace of spiritual innocence, allowing us to trust God’s Presence in every aspect of our lives. Doing this, we keep an inner recognition and dialogue with God – we “pray always”

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Poetry: Praying – Mary Oliver

It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few 
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don’t try 
to make them elaborate, this isn’t 
a contest but the doorway

into thanks, and a silence in which 
another voice may speak.

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Music: The Lord’s Prayer – Perry Como