Saturday of the 3rd week of Easter year A
Theme: There is power in prayer
Today the church celebrates the memorial of St. Catherine of Siena, virgin, and doctor of the church. At a very young age, St. Catherine embraced holiness of life and practiced it all through her life. This is seen in her lifestyle and writings. Today as we celebrate her, it presents us an opportunity to encourage ourselves about the need for us to emulate her lifestyle by embracing holiness of life. The fact that she dedicated herself very early in life to God, simply means that we can also do the same if we make honest and sincere effort, and trust on the grace of God to also guide us.
I want you to know that we are all capable of becoming saints if we set our minds to it and do our best. In recent times we have seen people we may have met or read about, canonized as saints. Two examples that readily come to mind is Mother Theresa of Calcutta, now known as St. Theresa of Calcutta and St. Pope John Paul 11. The memorial of St. Catherine of Siena is an invitation that we all need to take seriously as Christians in our own time. Remember, it is almost impossible to achieve this, if we are not people of prayer. St. Catherine was a woman of great faith, and she was very prayerful.
My brothers and sisters in Christ, the power of prayer in our lives cannot be over emphasized. We see what prayer can do in our life in the 1st reading of today. Peter was able to bring Tabitha back to life. This is one of the instances in the scriptures where prayer made a great difference in the life of an individual. As people of God, we must always make honest effort to be people of prayer. We cannot rule out the fact that sometimes it is difficult to concentrate and pray, the most important thing is our resolve to commit to a life of prayer.
My brothers and sisters in Christ, it is interesting to note that some of us can watch a movie for hours without sleeping, but we cannot stay awake for thirty minutes to pray the rosary; it is simply a matter of interest and priority. We are all encouraged today to make sincere effort to build a life of prayer. The more prayerful we become, the easier it will be for us to build a better relationship with God. Like I would always tell people, the most important thing is not the length of time we pray, but rather our concentration while we pray. God understands and knows us more than we know ourselves, that is why any effort we make to pray is greatly appreciated and blessed by God. He does not judge like you, and I do. May the Lord bless his words in our hearts in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit. Amen. Peace be with you.