Guidelines Sheet - Series on the Means of Perseverance: Prayer (July 22-27, 2024)

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We are part of the Verbum Dei community which has a specific spirituality to carry out our mission. In our community we all have four means of perseverance for us to practice in our daily life: prayer, fraternal love, cross and mission. These are concrete channels to help us to run towards the goal.

We face many challenges in becoming mature and committed disciples of Christ. But only when we persevere, we can reveal to our world today that Jesus continues His salvation. Last week we read in the introduction a meaningful sentence that we can kept in mind: IF YOU PERSEVERE LONG ENOUGH AND WORK HARD ENOUGH, YOU´LL EVENTUALLY SUCCEED. 
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Prayer is the concrete means to be practiced daily to persevere as faithful disciples of Jesus. For that reason, we´ll meditate about prayer during the following weeks to value and savor more this significant means of perseverance. We start this week with some reflections done by some disciples of Cebu. We are also encouraged to answer this question: What is prayer for me? What is my definition of prayer? Why is prayer important in my personal experience?

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MONDAY

​WHAT IS PRAYER FOR ME?
REFLECTION DONE BY RHEA PENSERGA

Matthew 6:6-7 “But when you pray, go to your room, close the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what you do in private, will reward you.
When you pray, do not use a lot of meaningless words, as the pagans do, who think that their gods will hear them because their prayers are long.”

Luke 1:38 "I am the Lord's servant, said Mary; may it happen to me as you have said."

Prayer is opening our heart and mind to God ready to encounter Him. It is not purely of asking and imploring, but allowing God to speak to us by listening His words in the Scripture. It is also an expression of humility and trust and a total surrender in His Divine Mercy and Providence. It´s a heart-to-heart talk with the Lord, recognizing that we can do nothing without Him.

• How is my heart when I pray? Am I attentive to my prayer?
• Do I listen to God most of the time or do I talk a lot most of the time?

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TUESDAY

​WHAT IS PRAYER FOR ME?
REFLECTION DONE BY BING BAGUIO

John 7:37-38 On the last and most important day of the festival Jesus stood up and said in a loud voice, "Whoever is thirsty should come to me, and whoever believes in me should drink. As the scripture says, ´Streams of life-giving water will pour out from his side.”

Prayer, "where the center is listening to the word of God", is a concrete action to approach to the real source of the life-giving waters. It is a moment where I can have that personal encounter with my God, a great proof that my God is alive, active and has a face. He is always ready to give his overflowing love and mercy to me.

John 15:5 "I am the vine, and you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without me.”

Prayer is also a moment for having a great opportunity to be connected in Jesus "the real vine". Who am I? Only a branch, and if I am disconnected to the real vine, I am nothing. What kind of following to Jesus, as a VD disciple, if I am not connected to Him! He is the source of everything that I need in order to persevere in all what I live and do according to His will and purpose.

• Is prayer important in my life? Why?
• Am I sensitive to my feeling of being thirsty for my God and in this way am I seeking God always in my life?

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WEDNESDAY
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WHAT IS PRAYER FOR ME?
REFLECTION DONE BY ADONNIS JAÑALA

Romans 12:2 “Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God - what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect.”
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Prayer for me is the lifting up of one’s heart and mind to the level where we can enter in communion with God. He is the creator of all our being, and He wants us to partake in his divine identity as children of God. In that way we can live what is coming from above and not from this world.
 
John 15:1-5 "I am the real vine, and my Father is the gardener. He breaks off every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and he prunes every branch that does bear fruit, so that it will be clean and bear more fruit. You have been made clean already by the teaching I have given you. Remain united to me, and I will remain united to you. A branch cannot bear fruit by itself; it can do so only if it remains in the vine. In the same way you cannot bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine, and you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without me.”
 
Prayer is our response to God’s invitation to be always close and connected to us, to know him more, to do his will here and now, and to love him to live our life to the fullest.

• Is our prayer bringing us closer to God?
• Is our prayer impelling us to love more each day?

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THURSDAY
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WHAT IS PRAYER FOR ME?
REFLECTION DONE BY JOY JAÑALA

Prayer is an encounter between God (creator) and man (creature). It is an exchange of thoughts, experiences… between God and man. It is a way to know God better, to know more the Person who loves me best and know who I am to Him. It is a way to open oneself to the God who created us. It is a connection where man can be who he or she is in front of God who loves him or her.
 
It involves:
 
Praising God of who He is, thanking and worshipping Him for all He does because He is God.
 
Psalm 100:4 “Enter the Temple gates with thanksgiving; go into its courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise him.”
 
Repentance - we confess our sins before Him allowing us to be who we are.
 
Daniel 9:9 “You are merciful and forgiving, although we have rebelled against you.”
 
Asking - for our needs and for the graces to understand His will for us.
 
1 John 1:9 “But if we confess our sins to God, he will keep his promise and do what is right: he will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoing.”
 
Matthew 7:7-11 “Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks will receive, and anyone who seeks will find, and the door will be opened to those who knock.
Would any of you who are fathers give your son a stone when he asks for bread? Or would you give him a snake when he asks for a fish? As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

Yielding - submitting to the Will of the Father.
 
Luke 22:42 “Father, he said, if you will, take this cup of suffering away from me. Not my will, however, but your will be done."
 

• What have you discovered in your prayer? 
• What was His invitation for you today?
• What motivates you to pray?

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FRIDAY

WHAT IS PRAYER FOR ME?
REFLECTION DONE BY RONAN CAPURAS

Prayer is a transforming encounter with God in your inner room

Jeremiah 18:1-6 “The LORD said to me, ´Go down to the potter's house, where I will give you my message´. So, I went there and saw the potter working at his wheel. Whenever a piece of pottery turned out imperfect, he would take the clay and make it into something else. Then the LORD said to me, ´Haven't I the right to do with you people of Israel what the potter did with the clay? You are in my hands just like clay in the potter's hands.”
 
Matthew 6:6 But when you pray, go to your room, close the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what you do in private, will reward you.
 
Every moment of prayer is an invitation from the Lord to 'go down to the potter’s house'. Where is this potter’s house? It is in the heart of the Father, where we see Him continuously molding us, taking our lives and shaping us into someone who pleases Him. This enables us to love others as He does. Allow God to lead you today to His heart, to your inner room, where He rewards us with His presence. Let every moment of praying with His Words be an encounter with Him, our best friend and companion.
 

• How is your moment of prayer? Do you see it as an encounter with the one who loves you?
• Do you allow the Lord to mold and transform you in your prayer?
• What is Jesus inviting you to live out today through His words?

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PRAYER FOR THE CONGRESS
To be held in Loeches, Spain from August 30 – September 27, 2024
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“Communion, Consecration and Participation in the Mission"

Father, you who create and sustain all things with your love, we ask you to make us artisans of communion, so that as we journey towards the Congress we may know how to welcome the diversity that characterises us as the Verbum Dei Missionary Family.
 
Jesus, human face of God, consecrate us to your Word so that the Congress may be prepared and carried out in profound fidelity to your voice, listening to each one of us and to the signs of the times.
 
Holy Spirit, you who open rivers in the desert, guide us in this time of discernment and decision, so that we may live, embody and offer our charism ever more fully, so that all the baptised may participate in the mission of Jesus entrusted to the Church.
 
Accompany us, Mary, with your loving motherly presence and intercession, so that this Congress may be a channel of hope in which God transforms us and makes all things new. Amen.