Let thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of
thy humble servants; and that they may obtain their petitions make them
to ask such things as shall please thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
In the Collect today we learn about prayer. We ask God, first that he may
hear our prayers, and secondly, that we may ask for such things as shall
please him. But what can be the comfort in a God who answers prayer only
when the right prayers are offered? Let us try to understand that it is
only a God who answers prayer in just this fashion that can be a true comfort
to us.
We begin the Collect by asking the merciful Lord to hear his humble
servants. He is merciful, and in our humility we must submit our lives
to his eternal and loving care. Faith is the initial requirement for prayer
because we must truly believe that God is merciful. Until we are convinced
that our God is all-knowing, all-powerful and all-loving, and that he desires
our salvation, we can have no true prayer. In his infinite wisdom God knows
what is best for the good of our souls far beyond what we may think is
beneficial for us. We must remember that his love for us is infinitely
more pure and perfect than even our love for ourselves. To his love we
may safely entrust our lives — soul and body — and the lives of our loved
ones.
God knows what is best for our eternal good even though the working
out of our salvation may involve long periods of seemingly unanswered prayer.
Our human standpoint is entirely limited and narrow in comparison with
God’s eternal providence. Today’s Collect teaches us that true prayer stems
from a trust and a faith in God’s mercy and love. No earthly or spiritual
trouble can cause us to doubt the power of prayer if we believe in his
saving love for us.
Finally, when we ask that God may make us to ask such things as shall
please him, we are asking for spiritual sight and discernment to understand
truly what is best for our souls and bodies. We pray that God may draw
our hearts towards him in love. Then, as a loving child who has come to
see that his Heavenly Father knows what will make him eternally happy,
we may gladly surrender our will to our Loving Father and desire only to
ask such things as will please him. In Jesus Christ we have been shown
beyond doubt that what pleases God is our happiness and salvation. Pray
that we may come to see more clearly that pleasing God is our only happiness.
