Carravaggios

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• Carravaggios
• Conversion of St. Paul

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• Chronology of New Testament Events in the First
  Century
• 6-4 BC Jesus is born
• 6-10 AD Paul is born
• 30 AD Jesus Passion, Death, Resurrection and
  Ascension
• 33-35 AD Pauls mystical experience of the Risen
  Lord
• 50 AD Paul writes 1 Thessalonians
• 53 AD Paul writes Galatians
• 54 AD Paul writes 1 Corinthians
• 55 AD Paul writes Philippians
• 55-56 AD Paul writes 2 Corinthians
• 57 AD Paul writes Romans
• 61 AD Paul writes Philemon
• 70 AD The gospel of Mark is written.
• 70 AD Destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem by
  the Romans.
• 80-85 AD The gospel of Matthew is written
• 80-85 AD The gospel of Luke is written and the
  Acts of the Apostles
• 85-90 AD First and Second Timothy, Titus
• 90 AD So called Jewish Council of Jamnia
  definitively ended the Christians worshiping at
  synagogues
• mid 90s The gospel of John is written and the
  Book of Revelation and the three Johannine
  letters.

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• Paul on Prayer

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• Pray can I not,
• Though inclination be as sharp as will
• My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent
• And, like a man to double business bound,
• I stand in pause where I shall first begin.
• Hamlet Act 3 Sc. 3 lines 38-42

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OPENING PRAYER

• Lord, I know not where to begin, nor do I know
  exactly what to say. Help my hesitation. Place
  your words in my mouth, for you know my thoughts
  even before I speak them. Send me your Holy
  Spirit to be my instructor. Search my heart and
  release my deepest yearnings and my darkest fears
  so that I might place them before you and receive
  your mercy. Teach me patience in this process,
  for I await your word and I am open to your will.
  In Jesus name and in the Spirit, I pray now and
  forever. Amen.

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• Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give
  thanks in all
• circumstances for this is the will of God in
  Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 516.18)

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• Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering,
  persevere in prayer.(Romans 1212)

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• I thank my God every time I remember you,
  constantly praying with joy in every one of my
  prayers for all of you, because of your sharing
  in the gospel from the first day until now.
  (Philippians 13-5)

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• First, Paul knows that prayer is not always easy

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• Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness
  for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but
  that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep
  for words.
• Romans 826

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• Secondly
• Paul emphasizes the importance of thanksgiving
  in prayer.

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• But even if I am being poured out as a libation
  over the sacrifice and the offering of your
  faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of youand
  in the same way you also must be glad and rejoice
  with me. Phillipians 217-18.

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• Third, prayer is a spiritual activity that can
  carry us beyond this world and put us in touch
  with the kingdom of God.

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• I know a person in Christ who fourteen years ago
  was caught up to the third heavenwhether in the
  body or out of the body I do not know God knows.
  And I know that such a personwhether In the body
  or out of the body I do not know God knowswas
  caught up into Paradise and heard things that are
  not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to
  repeat. 2 Corinthians 122-4

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• Fourth, Pauls most frequent use of prayer
  language is in supplication for others,
  especially his beloved communities.
• e.g. Romans 19 101
• 2 Corinthians 914 139

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• A fifth aspect of his teachings on prayer is his
  request of his communities that they pray for him
• e.g. Romans 1530 2 Corinthians 111 1
  Thessalonians 525 Ephesians 619 Philemon 22.

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• Sixth Point Paul also urges that prayer in the
  Spirit does not mean we should ignore active
  mental prayer.

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• The seventh observation concerns the simplicity
  of Christian prayer.

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• The eighth point is that Paul reminds his
  readers that prayer is neither an optional nor an
  occasional activity for Christians.

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• Praying unceasingly is cultivating the presence
  of God day in and day out in ordinary life.

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• I pray therefore that you may not lose heart
  over my sufferings for you they are your glory.
  For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
  from whom every family in heaven and on earth
  takes its name. I pray that, according to the
  riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be
  strengthened in your inner being with power
  through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in
  your hearts through faith, as you are being
  rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may
  have the power to comprehend, with all the
  saints, what is the breadth and length and height
  and depth, and to know the love of Christ that
  surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled
  with all the fullness of God. Now to him who by
  the power at work within us is able to accomplish
  abundantly far more than all we can ask or
  imagine, to him be glory in the church and in
  Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and
  ever. Amen. Ephesians 3 15-21

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• CLOSING PRAYER
• Gracious and loving God, I thank you for your
  presence and action in my life. I praise and
  glorify your name for teaching me the path of
  prayer, for setting my heart to your own. I
  freely acknowledge my weaknesses but I surrender
  them totally to you. Take my humble prayersfor
  my family, my friends, my colleagues, my parish,
  myself and even my enemiesand shape them into an
  acceptable offering. Hear and answer me when I
  call upon you, for I always trust in your
  goodness, and I will never allow myself to lose
  sight of your faithful presence. In the name of
  Jesus, and in the Holy Spirit, I pray. Amen.

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