P is the first letter in prayer, and prayer is our personal and sometimes communal communication with our loving God. It should not be our last resort when all our other means of control come up short. Prayer should be our first and ongoing conversation with God, whether it is to express our love and gratitude or our cries for help.
P is the first letter in a title of Jesus: Prince of Peace. In the Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah (9:6) declares that a child to be born—now understood to be the Messiah—would be called the Prince of Peace. While this verse is often repeated around Christmas, we know Jesus is our Prince of Peace all of the time. In fact, now is a perfect time to pray to Jesus and invoke him by that special name as we ask for peace in our hearts and in our societies.
P is the first letter in psalms The Book of Psalms in the Old Testament is a collection of songs of praise, thanksgiving, history, and supplication. The psalms can be great springboards for prayer: helpful starts to personal prayer time. A favorite of mine is Psalm 111 from which I take this quote:
The Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, begins with p, and the Spirit came with many gifts for us at Pentecost. Wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord are very positive, holy tools with which to carry out our evangelical mission of sharing God’s kingdom.
One more use of p that comes to my lettered mind is in the word praise. Every day we have so many opportunities to praise the Lord. Despite our difficulties, there is so much of God’s created beauty in nature, in our personal families, in our church families, in our own great potential, and in our hopeful hearts for which to praise him. For Jesus’ saving sacrifice for us, for giving us His Body and Blood in the Eucharist, for His guidance, patience, and mercy—the list is endless, we rightly give praise!
Pray, praise, and prepare the way daily for the Prince of Peace….please!
Sharon Krause is a RENEW volunteer whose writing has appeared in several resources for small-group faith sharing. She is a wife, mother, and grandmother residing in Manchester, Connecticut. Over the years, she has served in many parish ministries.
The passage from Psalm 111 is from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.