When we pray the Our Father, we willingly say, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done.” Yet so often, when we pray, our focus drifts to what we want instead of what God wants for us and from us.
Years ago, a friend told me: “Pray…but, more importantly, be brave enough to listen.” It is in the silence of our hearts, when we truly listen, that we begin to hear the Lord calling us to something more.
When we pray, we are invited to align our thoughts, wants, and desires with the Lord’s will. If our prayer is only me-focused (and not we-focused), then it may not yet be centered on God’s will for our life.
This weekend’s readings overflow with powerful images of prayer:
- In the first reading from Genesis, Abraham pleads with God not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, trusting that there must be goodness in some of the inhabitants.
- In Psalm 138, we proclaim with confidence: “Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.”
- And in today’s Gospel from Luke, we are urged to keep asking, seeking, and knocking—because our God listens and responds.
This is how prayer works: not as a list of demands, but as a living relationship with the One who loves us. It is in prayer—when we ask, listen, and align ourselves with God’s will—that His Kingdom truly comes alive in us.
