Reflection -9/4 Reading

Today’s reading is from 1 Cor 2:10-16

Brothers and sisters:
The Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God.
Among men, who knows what pertains to the man
except his spirit that is within?
Similarly, no one knows what pertains to God except the Spirit of God.
We have not received the spirit of the world
but the Spirit who is from God,
so that we may understand the things freely given us by God.
And we speak about them not with words taught by human wisdom,
but with words taught by the Spirit,
describing spiritual realities in spiritual terms.

Now the natural man does not accept what pertains to the Spirit of God,
for to him it is foolishness, and he cannot understand it,
because it is judged spiritually.
The one who is spiritual, however, can judge everything
but is not subject to judgment by anyone.

For “who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to counsel him?”
But we have the mind of Christ.

Many times in life we may be tempted to cry out, “Why have you forsaken me Oh God!” We feel despair and lost. We can feel as if God is no longer with us.

Often times we have heard the saying, “Prayer is a relationship with God.” Many hear this saying and few will understand. In my own prayer life I can say without a doubt the truth to this statement. I can think back on my own life and wonder why I never listened to this before.

My prayer life started with the most simple prayer, “God I have no clue what to say.” From that moment a journey began. A spiritual journey that taught me to pray, but more importantly to recognize God.

Another moment in my life came into perspective. How long have I lived in darkness? How long have I lived not seeing God’s holy presence before me at all times. Once my eyes were opened I could see that I was blind. I did not know that I was blind, because I had never clearly seen.

This new knowledge brought with it an understanding. This understanding is that I cannot explain to anyone else how to see. I cannot teach the blind to hear [I know, blind-hear]. No one that has not already made the discovery will understand. Just as I was blind and deaf, they too will be blind and deaf. They will hear the words and they will chose to ignore them.

There will be many excuses. Some may say that is interesting and then forget about it. Others may claim that it is nonsense, or just say I am another person pushing my beliefs.

So many people want to see God, to hear God, to even just to feel His presence in their life. They want it, but they do nothing to seek it.

The simple answer to this problem is prayer. Spiritual growth does not happen without prayer. Spiritual growth is what is needed to see and recognize God in our lives. In this respect, it is truly a relationship with God. As we pray more, we get to know God more. In time we start to see God in our lives around us. As the reading today states, we think and understand with our spirit, which is close [relationship] to God.

The most simple solution is often the most correct one. In this case it is a solution that has been before us all the time. We just chose to ignore it.

As it says in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” We are told to pray without ceasing. To find opportunities for prayer in our daily life.

With prayer we grow to see God, and Christ in others.