Mack Trucks & the Power of Prayer

When I think of prayer, I don't usually think of Mack trucks. Well, not usually. But I got to thinking about the power of prayer, which led to thinking about power and all kinds of power.

Take a Mack truck. I like Macks, there's quite a big difference between hauling a big load with a Mack or trying to carry it with one of those rental trucks. Big difference! I used to drive loads of books, maybe 2,000-4,000 lb. loads(?), between Boston, Philadelphia and New York. Yep, books are awful heavy. Then here at the convent we have our own version of "heartbreak hill," and when you are trying to get up the hill with a truck-load of books in a 20-foot rental truck, it's terrible! 

But a Mack truck? A hill like ours is no problem at all, he just chugs his little heart out all the way to the top. I should know, I used to drive the "convent Mack." It had a shiny white cab with a 20-foot blue box on the back that read "Daughters of St. Paul." You should have seen the toll booth clerks when we passed through, they were always quite amused.

Mack trucks have a lot of strength, a lot of power, and we can all appreciate them and count on them. But that type of power is tangible. Prayer is not tangible in the same way. It is just as real, though and it has eternal consequences of cosmic proportion.

When we pray in Christ we are some of the most powerful people on earth because we are praying within the mystical body of Jesus and so are connected intimately with divine power.

Need an example? Picture in your mind a hefty, strong ox, pulling a plow in a field. Now picture on the tip of the ear of that ox, a small fly who lands there and stays put. As you watch, the fly turns to you and says, "We are plowing the field." Is it true? Well, technically, the fly is part of the forward movement, so you could say that. I'm not sure if the ox would agree. 

This analogy definitely limps. However, Christ, is like the ox who gives the fly a front row seat on his ear, and he pulls the plow of life and blesses us and all we do by our association with him. Our Good Shepherd allows us to hold onto the fringe of his cloak and unites us to his divine power. In baptism, he unites us to himself and we become children of God who can pray in Christ for the salvation of everyone, hence doing great good to our poor world.

That's amazing power! We just need to hold onto him, to cling to him, and to make our petitions and intercessions for self and others through him. We can't see that power, but we believe, and when we get to eternity, we will see all the good that was done, all the ways we helped one another, and all the blessings we shared.

So we just keep ourselves united to the Lord. Sometimes our grip is firm, sometimes it is tenuous, but we help one another to hold on by our prayer to believe, to hope, to love and to serve as Jesus taught us.

I love this picture of the apostles floundering in the boat on the tempestuous sea. It is called Hold On and is by the German artist Sieger Koder. I keep it in a prominent place in my room so that when I'm having a hard day, I fix the image in my mind firmly & just ask Jesus to hang onto me and I struggle to hang onto him. He never lets me go. I've just go to keep

holding on. And that effort to hold on? It's love, after all, isn't it? It's a love that strives to stay in communion with the Beloved, and to do good to all of God's children, because one has received this infinite, divine love.

Lately I have been reading the book, When the Lord Speaks to Your Heart by Gaston Courtois. Courtois was a person of deep prayer and felt that the Lord wanted him to write down what he experienced the Lord communicating to him in prayer. Perhaps this reflection from the book will encourage you:

 "I am, above all, a most tender and close friend, who rejoices in the creativity of those he loves, yet is saddened by their errors, blunders, blindness, ambiguities and resistance. But I am also a friend who is ever ready to pardon and purge the faults of those who come back to him with love and humility. 

I see all the possibilities of good in each one, and I am fully prepared to help them blossom—but I can do nothing without your cooperation. In the measure of your attention to my presence you will experience the power of my divine vitality. I am Light but also Love."* 

Now that's real power! 

May we all "use" it to touch and bless others this day.

A prayer request: please pray for me, I will be going for surgery tomorrow, and I thank the Lord who works through all things for my good. Please pray also for Bobby, who has an inoperable tumor.



*To read more about this great book, go to: http://store.pauline.org/english/books/when-the-lord-speaks-to-your-heart#gsc.tab=0

I Thirst

I have many delightful memories of living in San Diego, at the corner of 5th and Cedar streets in the downtown area, between 1988 and 1995. And living there, just 30 minutes from Mexico, I also have my own exciting border-crossing story—though it might not be the kind you’re accustomed to hearing! The sun was not yet up, but Trinidad Keating was already knocking at our back door. We were expecting her, so I answered the door quietly and greeted her, then all four of the sisters and I followed the elderly Mexican woman out into the darkness.

We drove out of the city to the barren area of San Ysidro and there we crossed the border with no trouble at all. We headed to a poor area of Tijuana, Mexico, maneuvering our way through the bumpy dirt roads. Following Trinidad's instructions, we turned a corner, drove a little farther, then parked next to a simple low structure. Entering the building, we were greeted with a nod at the door by one of the Missionaries of Charity who showed us the way to their chapel. It was perhaps 20 by 20 feet inside, and we joined the sisters there in praying in preparation for Mass. We took our place in the very back and I noticed that the frail, kneeling sister one row in front of me was indeed Mother Teresa of Kolkata. She was kneeling on the floor, rapt in prayer, her gnarled bare feet giving evidence of a life of sacrifice and hardship.

Once the Mass was over, we prayed some more, then our dear friend Trinidad introduced us to the saintly woman. Mother greeted us warmly, murmuring words of encouragement about loving Jesus totally and about caring for the poor. To this day, I cannot see the words I Thirst without thinking of that day and of Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity, women who have taken those words as their life guide. Their official website notes that they are "called by Jesus to quench his thirst for love and souls." How do they do that? By “remaining at the foot of the "calvaries" of today's world,” which especially means those persons who are poor, sick, lonely or rejected.But these sisters aren’t alone!

Today, you and I meditate on the words of John's gospel and turn over in our hearts and minds these same words: "I am thirsty" (Jn 19:28 NRSV). We treasure them, for they are among the last words that Jesus left us. How can they guide us in our everyday lives? When we consider the passion of Jesus as presented in John's gospel, we realize that Jesus is freely going forth to meet his destiny. He’s not being dragged away; rather, he goes out to meet his enemies—and actually protects his disciples in the ensuing dialogue in the garden where they have come to apprehend him. He is presented here as a king who is in charge, as royalty. This is brought out in other ways as well: his enemies fall to the ground, he commands Peter to put his sword away, the dignity with which he responds to the high priest attendant's slap, and the way his cross is put in the primary central place between the two thieves. From the cross we hear him say, "I thirst."

Yes, Jesus shares the searing physical thirst of those crucified with him. He is, after all, suffering excruciating pain and is on the brink of death. But there is more. As we look over the panorama of his life, we think of the burning thirst of Jesus Christ. What did he thirst for? There’s a very simple answer: Jesus thirsted for God ,and to do all that would please his Father. 

 In the fourth chapter of John, verse seven, we read how Jesus says to the Samaritan woman, “Give me a drink.” He thirsted for her to come to know his Father, to live the truth, and he wanted the same for all the townsfolk who lived there as well. She believed in him, and actually ran to tell the villagers, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done!” The events of that day—Jesus' physical thirst, request for a drink, and the dialogue that followed—changed that woman's whole life, forever. 

We turn back to the life of Mother Teresa. She was a young girl living in Macedonia who joined a convent in Ireland and was later sent to India; and she didn’t know all that God had in store for her. But she did know this: Jesus wanted her to quench his thirst. And you? Is there some way that Jesus is asking you to respond to his, “I thirst”? How might you do that today? Do you realize that this invitation would also entail being more intimately united to him? 

Make Psalm 63: 1–5 your prayer, asking the Lord to pray it with you and in you, so that you can feel his thirst and to what he may be calling you. 

O God, you are my God, 
I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; 
my flesh faints for you, 
as in a dry and weary land 
where there is no water. 
So I have looked upon 
you in the sanctuary, 
beholding your power and glory. 
Because your steadfast love 
is better than life, 
my lips will praise you. 
So I will bless you as long as I live; 
I will lift up my hands and 
call on your name. 
My soul is satisfied 
as with a rich feast, 
and my mouth praises you with joyful lips..." 

For yourself: With the grace of my Baptism, I have been crucified with Christ, dying to myself and rising with him. Because of this great gift, I have the capacity to live in Christ. I take a few moments to thank God for this and for the many people who have been part of my Christian journey. For someone else: Today I will live, “You before me” as a way of responding to Jesus’ thirst. I will put others first, whether it be a worthy cause I can contribute to, a lonely person to spend time with, or someone whom God puts in my path who just needs help. I will cultivate my thirst for God and for pleasing him by reaching out to others.