Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” Prayer is so powerful yet so gentle. It can unite thousands of hearts into one body and be of one mind or simply bring one person to their knees. In prayer, God stoops down to hear us and at the same time, we rise to the heavenly realm in order to hear him, be with him, love him, be loved by him. Prayer truly is an amazing thing, a gracious gift, an abundance of grace, a precious blessing, an endless conversation, a font of mercy, a spring of everlasting love. In prayer, God permits us to speak, he enables us to listen, he helps us to give, then he helps us to receive, then he helps us to give and receive from the heart. In prayer, we are with God who is ever so present to us and attentive to our needs. He invites us to be present to him and attentive to what he asks of us, which is to love and be loved by him. However, not with half of your heart, or a piece of your heart, or part of your heart or most of your heart but with all of your heart – in fact, with your entire being for you are love and you are loved. The one thing we need is the one thing we do not ask for. The one thing we feel we do not need is the very thing we cannot live without. The one thing we do not go after is the one thing that seeks us out constantly. The one thing we fail to understand is the one thing that really gets us and understands us. The one thing we really desire is the one thing we fast from the most – love. Love is who God is – love is who we are. Love flows from God for it is who God is – the source, the presence, the essence of love. God loves you from the heart. He loves you in your heart. Have you prayed today? Saint Anthony Mary Claret said, “The man who burns with the fire of divine love is a son of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and wherever he goes, he enkindles that flame; he desires and works with all his strength to inflame all men with the fire of God’s love.” So give God your heart; he will love you for it. Seriously, have you prayed today?