The Power of Prayer: Our Lady of the Rosary and St. Therese
October4,2022
by Fr. Bryan
Yesterday, October 1, was the memorial of St. Therese de Lisieux, and Friday, October 7, is the memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary. Together, these feasts show us the importance of prayer and it’s power to change lives. We believe that God is all powerful, all knowing, and all good, so that He has to power to do anything, the knowledge of what is needed, and the desire to help us. So, why do we have to pray? Our prayers don’t add anything to God. Rather, they expand our capacity to receive the graces that God wants to give us. Prayer is about learning to surrender to God. We call this docility to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit often nudges us in one direction or another, pulling us away from one thing and towards another. We experience this when something moves us to give thanks to God or to ask for His help, when we see a need and are moved to charity, or when we realize we’ve sinned and are called to repentance. Then, we have to choose how to react. Will I accept the Holy Spirit’s invitation or turn away from it? I can insist on doing it my way or be docile to the Holy Spirit. Being docile to the Holy Spirit doesn’t make us weak, unless you consider people like St. Teresa of Calcutta, Padre Pio, Pope St. Leo the Great to be weak. Pope St. John Paul II named St. Therese as one of the 35 Doctors of the Church. The Doctors of the Church are those who had a particularly deep understanding of God and were able to teach others about Him. St. Therese taught a “little way” of following God. The little way is to allow yourself to be little before God, to do little acts of love, and to allow God to lift you up. When she became a Carmelite, she took the name Therese of the Child Jesus, because she had a particular devotion to the Child Jesus. She spoke of seeing yourself as a toy or a ball given to the Child Jesus and to be happy with whatever He chooses to do. We should put ourselves at the disposal of God. That’s why prayer is absolutely necessary in the spiritual life, and there is no growth in holiness without prayer. In prayer we open ourselves to God and learn to surrender to Him. We learn to listen for the “still, small voice” of the Holy Spirit. Take time every day to pray. Find a time that works for you, whether that’s in the morning when you wake up, the evening before bed, or in the middle of the day. Try to find a time when you can focus without many distractions. You should also try to find a good place to pray. It should be a peaceful place without distractions. Maybe you can set up a prayer corner in your home, with a crucifix, a Bible, an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and maybe a candle or statues of saints. You can also come pray at the Adoration Chapel here at St. Cletus. If you have children you should teach them to pray by praying with them. When they’re very young, teach them to pray the Our Father and Hail Mary before bed. Pray grace before meals as a family and pray a family Rosary. I learned to pray the Rosary at the foot of my grandparents bed. Maw Maw and Paw Paw would pray the Rosary together every night. I would lay at the foot of their bed and watch Star Trek with them, and during the commercials they would mute the sound and we would pray the Rosary together. We were always praying for someone: someone in the family who was sick, someone they’d seen in the news, or someone who’d asked for Maw Maw’s prayers (because everyone knew she really would pray for you if she said she would). Finally, this is a prayer that St. Therese wrote to pray in the mornings to offer your day to God.
Daily Offering to God
My God, I offer you all that I do today for the intentions and the glory of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I want to sanctify every beat of my heart. my thoughts and my simplest works by uniting them to his infinite merits. I want to repair for my faults by casting them into the furnace of his merciful love.
O my God! I ask you for myself and for those dear to me the grace to fulfill perfectly your holy will and to accept for love of you the joys and sorrows of this passing life, so that one day we may be reunited in Heaven for all eternity. Amen.