Fire of prayer: Daily Mass Homily--Wednesday, August 14th, 2013 (Memorial of St. Maxmilian Kolbe) (CSS)

            The heart of your call to religious life is in our Gospel today: “…amen, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father.  For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”  Your call as Benedictine Sisters is stated in Benedict’s Rule: work and prayer—ora et labora.

            Your life is built around prayer and your prayer is powerful.  In particular, your communal prayer for the needs of our community and world is essential for us all.  In a society which is driven by goals, results and success, we may be tempted to think prayer is unimportant.  I have seen as a priest elderly people, the sick and people confined to their homes often face this temptation.  Precisely the opposite is true!  Prayers of the elderly, homebound and sick are especially powerful. 

            I appreciate your diligence in your prayer.  I love how you remember to pray for the weak, sick, hungry, poor and marginalized.  I encourage you to stretch yourselves in prayer as we all need to do this.  Remember, Jesus asked us to pray for our enemies.  We are called to pray for people and situations we personally may not like or prefer.  In all such circumstances we pray for God’s will to be done.

            We celebrate the memorial of St. Maxmilian Kolbe who took the place of a married man and father in a Nazi death camp.  Maxmilian gave his life—his blood—so that others may live.  While you will probably not shed your blood in this way you live out a different sort of martyrdom—what the saints often refer to as a white martyrdom.  You have been chosen to step out of the world in order to pray for the world.  You have been chosen to ensure prayer is constant while married men and women, students and others live busy lives.

            Finally, I love our Responsorial Psalm—“Blessed be God who filled my soul with fire!”  What a vivid and poignant image.  May your souls be filled with the fire of God’s prayer.  May your community be filled with the fire of prayer.