Prayer, Courage, and Salvation

There are three very powerful lines from today’s Gospel reading. Together, these scriptures, taken from St. Matthew’s Gospel, give a great insight into our life of prayer and our relationship with Our Lord.

The first line establishes a very important concept, “He (Jesus) went up on the mountain by himself to pray.” It is critical that we take moments each day to be alone with God in our thoughts and prayers. In this time alone, we are able to acknowledge that God desires to look upon us, His creatures, whom He has made in His own image and likeness. Despite this being very difficult for married couples and busy families, nonetheless, it remains a very important goal to strive for and develop.

The second line comes from Our Lord, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” In the midst of our sin and dysfunction, we must never be discouraged. It is God Almighty who died upon the Cross to redeem us; take courage!

The third line from St. Peter is the perfect synopsis of our prayer and courage, “Lord, save me!” When we are alone with God in prayer and we take courage in Him, we have the confidence to call upon His mercy and power to save us.

As St. Alphonsus Liguori reminds us, “Pray, and never give up praying. If you pray, you will be certainly be saved; if you do not pray, you will certainly be damned.”

Let us all take that very important time each day to be alone with our God who loves us more than we can imagine. God’s love will give us great courage to call upon Him to save us from our sins and bring us into His Heavenly Kingdom!