“Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me. Because of your kindness and your truth; for you have made great above all things your name and your promise. When I called, you answered me; you built up strength within me.” (From Psalm 138: 1-3) 

 
I want to return for a moment to this past Tuesday morning when I celebrated Mass with the thirdgraders from our school. The readings that day were all about prayer. The Prophet Isaiah assured us that no prayer goes unanswered, and in the Gospel, Jesus gave us the Lord’s Prayer. For the homily, I asked the students to share with each other their thoughts in response to 2 questions: how do you like to pray? And what, at times, makes it difficult to pray? Then I asked some of them to share with the whole class. Their responses were genuine and very inspiring. When it came to the question of the factors that sometimes make prayer difficult, some of the answers were: “Sometimes I’m just tired…sometimes I am worried…” and so on. One little guy raised his hand and answered, “My siblings.” I asked him, “Your siblings? In what way?” Then he smiled and said, “They keep punching me?” We all had good laugh. The response that I bring to this reflection, however, came from one of the girls. She said, “Because sometimes I don’t know if my prayer will be answered.” Before I go any further, I have no doubt that we can all relate to her. 
 
Scripture for today’s Mass—the first reading, the psalm response (quoted above), and the Gospel all speak to the “asking” part of prayer and assure us that all of our prayers are heard and, indeed, answered. On Tuesday, I made the point to stop and reassure all of the students that, “God hears and answers all our prayers. It’s just that, sometimes, the answer may not be the one we were hoping for.” It may be worthwhile to return to this again today. For me, one of the crucial aspects of prayer is that of surrender. Our good friend and colleague, the late Judy Stewart, once said, “There’s a difference between resignation and surrender. In resignation we give up. When we surrender, we give it up—to the one who makes all suffering holy.” Whatever it is we’re praying for or about, we must be willing to surrender all of it to God. In surrendering, we choose to believe that, regardless of how things turn out, we will be cared for and given, by God, all that we need. 
 
A few years ago, a friend of mine died at a young age. At one point during the first year following his death, his son said to me, “I asked God to cure my Dad, but He didn’t.” He paused briefly, then asked, “Can you tell me why?” That was tough. It was, however, a moment that would eventually lead to growth for both him and me. Deep down, he knew that the only way he was going to get through this was to eventually be able to surrender what he had wished for. 
 
We can all say, “Lord, when I called, you answered me; you built up strength within me.” Getting to that point, however, always requires some measure of letting go. The next time you go to prayer, what might you need to let go of?