The Holy Martyr Pelagia
Read
Acts 10:1-16; John 6:56-69
Christ is risen! Truly, He is risen!
Here is a question for pondering: what is the best form of prayer? Individual prayer directly to God? Individual prayer through the intercession of a saint? Group prayer? Prayer plus fasting? Prayer from certain individuals (e.g. the Pope, the Patriarch, a Bishop, a monastic, etc.)? Offering just one prayer? Offering the same prayer many times? Is Christian prayer better than non-Christian prayer? Is the best form of prayer dependent on what or from whom the prayer is offered? Is the Rosary the best prayer? The Jesus Prayer? Molebens? Akathist Hymns? There is an infinite number of combinations of the above as well…
We hear today that the centurion, Cornelius, and the leader of the apostles, Peter, were both praying at appointed times for prayer. Both received a vision from the Lord: the former of an angel asking Cornelius to go to meet Simon Peter; the latter a vision seen three times of animals that can be eaten. Neither event reveals for what or for whom these men were praying. Rather, these events reveal something of the Lord and something about the effect of prayer of these men.
Firstly, the Lord hears our prayers! We must never doubt that. “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God.” Not only that He hears our prayers, but He also answers them! Both events show that the Lord responded to the prayer of these men and responded personally. Secondly, while we do not know the content of the prayer, we do know that, for both men, it leads to some change in them. God directs each according to His plan (Cornelius to meet with Peter which will, we find in the days ahead, lead to his conversion to Christianity; and Peter to change in his life the food laws to which he was accustomed).
The best type of prayer, then, is not so much dependent on the form (although we should still perfect whatever form we are following), or for what or for whom we are praying (although these are very important aspects of our prayers), it is that prayer which changes us so that we align to the Lord’s plan for us, that prayer which helps a heart of stone transform to a heart of flesh, that prayer which moves one from selfishness to selflessness, that prayer which allows us to be like clay in the hands of God.