Today's Gospel commentary for Sunday, October 16, gave the Pope the opportunity to offer some thoughts on vocal prayers. Following the question posed by Jesus, "When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" (Lk 18:8), Pope Francis invited the faithful to reflect on this question on a personal level: "Would he [Jesus Christ] find someone who devotes time and affection to him, someone who puts him in first place? And above all let us ask ourselves: what would I find in me, if the Lord were to come today, what would he find in me, in my life, in my heart? What priorities in my life would I see?"
The Pope pointed out that in our world we live at great speed, absorbed by many urgent but unimportant things, so that unintentionally we make it impossible for God to be close to us and our faith gradually cools down. "Today Jesus offers us the remedy to warm up a lukewarm faith. And what is the remedy? The prayer. Prayer is the medicine of faith, the restorative of the soul. But it must be a constant prayer. If we have to follow a cure to be better, it is important to follow it well, to take the medicines in the right way and at the right time, with constancy and regularity".
The example of caring for a plant
The Holy Father compared the importance of constancy in prayer to perseverance in caring for a plant: it needs water and nutrients on a regular basis. The same is true for the life of prayer. "One cannot live only by strong moments or intense encounters from time to time and then 'go into lethargy'. Our faith will dry up. It needs the daily water of prayer, it needs time dedicated to God, so that He can enter into our time, into our history; of constant moments in which we open our hearts, so that He can pour into us every day love, peace, glory, strength, hope; that is, nourish our faith."
This is why Jesus Christ insists to his disciples on the need to pray without losing heart. The Pope pointed out that one should not let oneself be carried away by excuses like, "I don't live in a convent, I don't have time to pray! If you lead a busy life, Pope Francis recommends that you turn to vocal prayers in the form of ejaculatory prayers. These are "very short prayers, easy to memorize, that we can repeat often during the day, during various activities, to be 'in tune' with the Lord. Let us give an example. As soon as we get up we can say: 'Lord, I thank you and I offer you this day'; this is a short prayer; then, before an activity, we can repeat: 'Come, Holy Spirit'; and between one thing and the other we can pray like this: 'Jesus, I trust in you, Jesus, I love you'. Small prayers but they keep us in contact with the Lord.
The example of sending messages
To illustrate the efficacy of the repetition of ejaculatory prayers and their meaning, Pope Francis compared them to the frequent messages one sends to the people one loves. "Let us do this also with the Lord, so that the heart remains connected to Him. And let us not forget to read their replies. The Lord always responds. Where do we find them? In the Gospel, which we must always have at hand and open every day a few times, to receive a Word of life addressed to us".
Changes in the future Synod
After the Angelus prayer, the Pope indicated that the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, on the theme "For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission," will be held in two phases. The first will take place from 4 to 29 October 2023 and the second in October 2024.
