Oratio Fidei | Prayer Offered

"And the prayer offered in faith ..." - James 5: 15

James 5:13-15 says, "Is anyone of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is anyone of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.  And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven". 

His point is, are you suffering? Pray.  Are you happy? Pray. Are you sick? Pray. 

It appears that your first response should always be God. You should be so in love with God.  When you are madly in love with someone, just as you have good news or bad news, you want to tell them first. That is the idea behind this, that God is the core - the center of our life. 

If I am going through a hard time, then I will come before Him. When all things are well, and I know that all things come from Him, I will praise Him. Sometimes we are not aware that He is the first love of our life. Actually it is our deep relationship with God, that James wants us to be aware of. 

We have a good example, Elijah. He was a man like us, he was no different from us. However, he was able to pray and God answered his prayer. I can do the same thing as Elijah did. Elijah was a human. So are you and I. He could pray and stop the rain, he could pray and call down fire from heaven! It is an amazing thought. 

We can ask ourselves, do we have that type of faith? Do we really believe that we have that kind of intimacy with God? And, do we believe that God will respond to our prayer like He did to Elijah?

 Reflection on James 5:13-20 by Sr. Merry CM

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