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17th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C - 28/7/2019 - Gospel: Lk 11: 1-13
Quiet moments
Some days we have beautiful blue sky; other days we have are cloudy and wet; other days again,  we enjoy a calm, clear, sunny sky, and again we may have a horrible, hot or a cold, windy day. It is the same for an ocean. We have a calm sea and a rough sea. Nature has different moments of calmness and roughness, for that is the movement of nature. We are part of nature and we also have tough days and easy days. When life is rough and tough; quiet moments are needed to re-energize ourselves. It is a life giver, that we all need to have in order to enjoy life. To calm our mind and heart, our society invents something like Yoga and Tai Chi, meditation and mental exercises for a quiet moments. The purpose of these forms of exercises is to clear the troubled mind and put our heart at rest. They are healthy remedies for life. Some people are mistaken when they take drugs or alcohol and other substances to escape the reality of life. They are toxic, unhealthy and dangerous, because they cause harm for a person, are addictive and destroy life.

Finding quiet moments in life is an ancient wisdom. Prayer time was very popular in the ancient world. Some people even went as far as possible to escape the world, hiding themselves in solitude, hermit life style. They escaped the busy-ness of life by living in a remote area for prayer and meditation. They were alone with nature and with God. John the Baptist taught his disciples to find time for praying. Jesus' disciples asked: 'Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples Lk 11,2'. Jesus himself often spent his early morning hours talking to God the Father. He began His day with prayers.  By His disciples' s request, Jesus taught them to pray, and that is what today is known as the Lord's Prayer.
 
Yoga and Tai Chi look for way to calm our mind and heart.

We Christians don't stop at the calmness of mind and peace of heart, but we go much further. In prayers we are not alone. We surrender, and allow God's Spirit to lead us to go deeper into the mystery of God's love. St Paul told us that when we don't know what to say the Spirit will help (Rom 8,26). We journey into unknown territories and enjoy the immensity of God's love and mercy. We submit ourselves to God's Spirit, and contemplate God in silence. In prayer we see the purpose of our earthly journey, and hope to respond to it accordingly. The Lord's Prayer is the pattern of all prayers. We begin our prayers by acknowledging, that God is the author of the entire universe. We then pray for God's rules in our heart- to love God, and love our neighbour-. We welcome God's kingdom by praising God's name, keeping it holy. We pray for the courage to make God's will relevant in our lives, and to the lives of others. The second part of our prayer is to give thanks to God for providing us with food daily. We pray for what we need, not what we 'greed'. We give thanks to God for cancelling our sins. By experiencing of God's mercy, we learn from God to forgive those who cause us harm and pain, and finally we ask God for the grace to resist all kind of temptations.

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