Dear Friends,

“Have no anxiety about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

In today’s epistle reading St. Paul encourages his listeners and instructs them in prayer. In today’s Gospel Christ uses two parables to demonstrate the effectiveness of prayer. The first parable encouraged the disciples to pray confidently and illustrated the effectiveness of persistence in prayer. Just as the widow was heard by the judge because she continually came to him, we also are heard by God when we continually approach him in prayer.

The second parable teaches us to pray with a humble attitude because none of us are in a position to be boastful about our own righteousness before God.

Prayer is defined as an earnest request, entreaty or supplication or a humble and sincere request to God. This is what the tax-collector’s prayer was: a request “God be merciful to me a sinner.”

A second definition of prayer is any utterance to God in praise, thanksgiving or confession.

This is the type of prayer the pharisee made. He gave thanks to God for his righteousness. However the prayer of the pharisee was not met with God’s favor because of a flaw in the pharisee’s attitude. His virtuous behavior became a source of pride and he despised anyone who could not live up to his code of conduct. Therefore the pharisee’s attitude prevented his prayer from being received by God.

When we pray we do more than just talk to God, we enter into spiritual communion with him. Today’s Gospel teaches us to enter into this communion confidently but with humility. If we do this even as we pray we will receive God’s boundless blessings. And our prayers will be heard.  

With blessings,
Rev. Fr. Sahak M. Kaishian
Interim Pastor
March 22, 2009