Prayer a relationship with God
By Frank Flegel
REGINA — “Prayer is a living relationship with God,” Archbishop Daniel Bohan told about 30 people gathered Oct. 9, for a Theology on Tap session on prayer.
It is a conversation with God, he said, but the core of the prayer is the relationship with God.
The archbishop used the Trinity as one example, describing the Father and Son in relationship terms and the Holy Spirit as the “dynamism that completes the relationship.” He described what he called a wonderful image of God, on the ground, in the dirt and mud, His hands dirty creating Adam.
The relationship, he said, “is one of great intimacy and love. No other religion does that.”
We are a restless society, the archbishop said, searching for something, accumulating, but “in every human being there is a longing within us to be with God.” We sometimes run away from God, he said, quoting from the 19th century poem The Hound of Heaven Hound of Heven Bound by English poet Francis Thompson to illustrate his point.
He described several relationships between God, Moses and Abraham. “The
Old Testament talks a lot about God as a person and those relationships
with Moses and Abraham help us understand our own relationship with God” — a
relationship, he said is based on faith and trust.
He also talked about being angry with God — so much so that talking
with him is difficult. “Set prayers like the Our Father and Hail
Mary re-open that relationship.”
The New Testament is about Jesus’ relationship with God the Father. “I
have come to do the will of the one who has sent me,” he quoted
from the Gospels.
The sacraments of initiation, baptism and confirmation, are a re-birth for us, he said. “They breathe into us life, and we come full circle from the creation of Adam and Moses and Abraham to become God’s children.”
Conversation
with Gods is prayer and that relationship with God gives us eternal life,
said the archbishop.
He suggested to his audience that they seek a quiet place when praying
so they can hear God’s reply. “You won’t physically
hear his voice but he will reply and in a quiet place you will hear him.”
He also emphasized that a very important prayer is one of thanks for
the gifts received from God. He has two theology degrees, he said, but
his ability to study, his health, his intelligence, that led to his degrees
were not something he did, “They are gifts from God.”
Theology on Tap co-ordinator for the Catholic Young Adult group, Anna Zuiker, introduced Archbishop Bohan. She said later the turnout of about 30 people is the largest the group has had.
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