Prayer is one of the most central elements of our Spiritual Life. So often we claim to not know how or for what to pray. St. Paul, in the two verses that precede today’s reading, tells us that because of our weakness, the Spirit offers our prayers for us. Since we cannot see the future, we might pray to be saved from things that are actually good for us, and secondly we do not really know what is best for us. And so for Paul, prayer is of God.

If we love God, then as Christians we are called to know that God loves us and intermingles all things for good to us. It is the experience of life for the Christian that all things do work together for good. All we need to do is look back and see that things we thought to be disasters worked out to our good, or disappointments worked out to greater blessings. But, it is important to note that we must first love God in order to understand the events around us. For Paul, if a man loves and trusts and accepts God, if he is convinced that God is an all-wise and loving Father, then he can humbly accept all that God sends him.

Therefore in the Christian experience, we are not predestined. While the rhythm of logic carries us through the life, death and resurrection of Christ, we did nothing to bring it about. That was God’s work. We heard the story of God’s wondrous love. We did not make the story; we only received it. Love woke within our hearts; the conviction of sin came, and with it came the experience of forgiveness and of salvation. We did not achieve that; all is of God. This is what Paul is thinking of in today’s second reading.

So God has done everything. From the beginning of time God marked us out for salvation; that in due time his call came to us; but the pride of man’s heart can wreck God’s plan and the disobedience of man’s will can refuse the call. It may not sound simple, but indeed it is if we take time to think about the basis of who we are in the loving eyes of God.

Fr. George