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March 3, 2020Today’s readings have to do with the first of the traditional three Lenten practices: prayer. In the first reading, the Prophet Isaiah tells us of the efficaciousness of God’s word, which accomplishes the end for which he sends it (Is 55:11). The responsorial psalm assures us that the Lord hears the cry of the poor (Ps 34:7). In the Gospel, Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray with the Lord’s Prayer. In this brief two-sentence prayer we learn that we are one family since we address God as “Our Father.” We learn to ask him to conform our will to his, to supply our daily needs, to forgive us our sins, and to deliver us from evil. However, Jesus is clear that God will only forgive us if we forgive others.
An outstanding example of prayer is Francis Anthony Drexel, father of the saint we celebrate today: Mother Katharine Drexel. Every day this multimillionaire, on returning from his Philadelphia banking firm would devote himself to an hour of prayer in his private chapel. Was it the example of her father’s prayer that opened the eyes of St. Katharine, child of wealth and privilege, to the needs of the most neglected in our society? She responded to Pope Leo XIII’s challenge to form a religious congregation to minster to Native and African Americans after she had asked him to send someone to them. Embracing voluntary poverty, she used her father’s millions on the poor, dedicating the last 20 years of her life to prayer as she lay upon her sickbed. Those who entered her room said it was like entering an oratory.
May we follow the example of Francis and Katharine Drexel by devoting ourselves to prayer that we may be transformed by the word of God and, through this transformation, reach out to serve our brothers and sisters who are most in need.
