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April 5 Mark 9: 14-29
"This kind can come out only through prayer." A somewhat cranky Jesus ("How much longer must I put up with you?') has had to step in and cast out an unclean spirit that the disciples couldn't handle. Only through prayer could it be done.
When I have occasion to talk with people about the Society of
St. Margaret and the presence of religious orders-communities of monks and nuns-in the Episcopal Church, they often ask, "what do they do?" As I then talk about the sisters' life of corporate prayer, gathering five times a day, as well as their individual times of prayer, the frequent response is, "but what do they do?"
It can be easy to see prayer as an add on, an extra thing I might do if I have time. Maybe we haven't gotten too far beyond prayer as telling God what God needs to know in order to help me. Jesus reveals the power of a life of prayer that at its heart is a profound openness and listening to God. Actually, he never really prays out loud in today's passage. But his life of deep openness to God enables him to cast out the spirit. Lent brings us the opportunity to begin to develop those habits of prayer that become a source of power and hope in our own lives.
The sisters in fact engage in a variety of active ministries, doing amazing things in Massachusetts, New York, Haiti, and beyond, and it all flows from and is sustained and empowered by what they ultimately really do - prayer.
Rev. Bill Locke+
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