Daily Mass Reading & Meditation for Saturday, 1 March 2014 -
Catholic Meditations
Meditation: James 5: 13 Is any among you suffering? Let him
pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praises. 14 Is any among you sick? Let him
call for the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing him
with oil in the name of the Lord, 15 and the prayer of faith will heal him who
is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed sins, he will be
forgiven. 16 Confess your offenses to one another, and pray for one another,
that you may be healed. The insistent prayer of a righteous person is
powerfully effective. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he
prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it didn’t rain on the earth for
three years and six months. 18 He prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the
earth produced its fruit.
19 Brothers, if any among you wanders from the truth and someone
turns him back, 20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of
his way will save a soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
Common of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful.
(James 5:16)
An atomic blast is probably the ultimate in power. Sitting near
one would change you forever. Well, coming into contact with God in prayer
should be like that—an experience that can’t help but change you. Unlike a
nuclear bomb, however, prayer has the power to make you stronger, wiser, more
effective, and more loving. When you come into contact with God and are changed
by his grace, you are then set free to unloose that power on the world around
you.
Prayer is a loving conversation between you and God, an ebb and
flow between our Creator and his child. It may seem a gentle, quiet activity,
but it still has the power to change things dramatically. The Greek word for
“powerful” in this verse refers to doing much, to being strong and good. This
is the power at work as you sit with the Lord. It brings about healing of your
spirit and mind and body. It turns weakness into strength and fear into
confidence. It brings comfort when you mourn and understanding when you know
only disagreement.
Prayer accomplishes things—first, in your life, and then in the
people around you. Not every prayer will be answered as you wish, but it will
change your heart. It will break strongholds in your life, things that you
think will never change, will never stop hurting, or will never be a source of
strength for you. It helps you to repent and forgive, and it brings freedom in
places where you’ve been held captive for years. All of this combined may well
end up changing what you pray for or the way you pray.
When you know firsthand what God can do because you’ve seen him
do it in you, when you’ve repented and forgiven and been set free in ways you
might not even dream of now, your prayer for other people naturally increases
in intensity and in power. It moves you to give to other people what you
yourself have received: God’s love, his healing, his wisdom, and his mighty
power to change lives. In short, it becomes a little like an atomic bomb with a
massive “fallout” of grace!
“Father, help me to experience your power at work in me today as
I pray. Heal me, change me, fill me with your love.” Amen!
Psalm 141: A Psalm by David.
1 Yahweh, I have called on you.
Come to me quickly!
Listen to my voice
when I call to you.
2 Let my prayer be set before you like incense;
the lifting up of my
hands like the evening sacrifice.
3 Set a watch, Yahweh, before my mouth.
Keep the door of my
lips.
8 For my eyes are on you, Yahweh, the Lord.
In you, I take refuge.
Don’t leave my soul
destitute.
Mark 10: 13 They were bringing to him little children, that he should
touch them, but the disciples rebuked those who were bringing them. 14 But when
Jesus saw it, he was moved with indignation, and said to them, “Allow the
little children to come to me! Don’t forbid them, for God’s Kingdom belongs to
such as these. 15 Most certainly I tell you, whoever will not receive God’s
Kingdom like a little child, he will in no way enter into it.” 16 He took them
in his arms, and blessed them, laying his hands on them.
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