2 minutes of prayer

Sermon preached at Evensong & Benediction, Easter 5, Year 1, May 10, 2009.

There are a number of different facets to my prayer life. In the morning and in the evening I say the Daily Office. Most days I celebrate at least one Mass. I pray before meals and at night with my family. And I pray alone. The environment that I am in influences how I pray and what I pray for.

Sometimes I pray for very general things: bless my family, keep them healthy – that sort of thing. At other times, I pray for specific things, very specific things. I think sometimes people have trouble with that type of prayer because it often doesn’t deliver the desired results. Someone can pray all they want for something specific to happen – I imagine that many people in the last year have been praying to get a new job, or to be more specific, to get that new job. If those prayers are not granted, what does it mean?


Jesus tells his disciples to ask, and it will be given. Knock and the door will be opened. He also says that through prayer they can do anything, heal people, cast out demons, even move mountains. As a person who prays and has not yet moved any mountains, what am I supposed to think about Jesus’ teaching on the power of prayer?

First, I don’t discount the power of God to do things that I might think are impossible. I know people who really have been miraculously healed through prayer. But beyond that, I think when we pray for those specific things, even if we don’t expect our prayers to act like magic wishes, we recognize those things in our life that are consuming us, and we can begin to ask for God’s help in moving through them or taking them on as challenges that we can face.

To use the job example – if someone is looking for a job and is not praying about that, isn’t that a lot like ignoring an 800 lb gorilla in the living room? If someone is sick and doesn’t specifically address that sickness in her prayers, what exactly is the person praying for?

I can a great deal about world peace and Christian unity, but my wife is going to have a baby any day now – I pray for her health, I pray for the baby, I pray for myself so that I can be a good father, and I pray for our 2 year old son so that he can be a great brother. I pray for specific things at specific times. By addressing the biggest and most obvious issues in my life, I am able to ask God for the power to help me focus on those issues. I am able to ask God for guidance and help in my life in very specific ways.

All of us have specific challenges in our lives that are standing in front of us like a big closed door. We don’t always know what is on the other side of that door, but at some point we need to go through the door. Recognizing that the door is there is the first act of prayer. You might pray for the strength to open it, or the courage to knock, or the persistence to keep knocking. Ignoring the door or pretending that it isn’t there isn’t going to make it go away and it certainly isn’t going to get the door opened.


One of the blessings that I have discovered each week is the 2 minutes of silence at Benediction – two minutes we will all be given in a few moments. I use that time to pray fervently about everything and anything that comes to mind. Sometimes my prayers are very specific, sometimes they are very general and vague, sometimes I simply stare at the Blessed Sacrament in adoration. Whatever I do, I am spiritually fed for two minutes in a way that is unique to the rest of the week. With that in mind I would like to offer a suggestion. Open your heart and soul completely to the love and power of God in prayer tonight. Take that two minutes as the blessing that it is and take a good long look at whatever doors you know are in front of you and then knock.