Friday May 29, 2026

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Anxiety and worry and fear and doubt — if they control our lives — diminish our relationship with the all-loving, all-powerful God.

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Good News Reflection for:

Friday of the 8th Week in Ordinary Time
Memorial of Saint Paul VI, Pope
May 29, 2026

Today’s Prayer:

My Lord, my faith is wounded due to my lack of forgiveness. Grant me the desire to pardon every offense, and give me the faith I need to take risks in Your name, going fearlessly wherever You want me to follow. Amen.

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Today’s Readings:

1 Peter 4:7-13
Ps 96:10-13
Mark 11:11-26
bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/052926.cfm
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/daily-mass-reading-podcast-may-29-2026

Why don’t we have more prayer power?

In today’s first reading, St. Peter tells us, “Remain calm so that you will be able to pray.” If we truly believe that we can trust God (as Jesus explains in our Gospel reading today), and if we truly believe that, since God is trustworthy, he will respond to our prayers with goodness, then of course we remain calm. What is there to be perturbed about?

If we know — really know — that God is in charge and that no matter what the evidence at the moment looks like, our prayers will be answered, and no matter how long it takes, we have no reason to feel anxiety, worry, fear, or doubt. We pray without feeling uptight or impatient. In this calm spirit, our prayers have great strength.

When was the last time you prayed like that?

Our mental state is a good barometer of our prayer power. The higher into the “uptight” zone our barometer needle goes, the less trust we have for God. And the less trust we have, the wimpier our prayer power is.

So now that we know this, how do we increase our prayer power? It seems unlikely that we who are mere mortals will ever totally stop worrying.

Anxiety and worry and fear and doubt — if they control our lives — diminish our relationship with the all-loving, all-powerful God. During Mass, as we pray silently in agreement with the presiding priest at the end of the “Our Father” prayer, we ask God, by the help of his mercy, to keep us “safe from all distress.” So why do we leave Mass still worried?

The answer: We look at the evidence of what is going bad instead of looking at Jesus, who is always good. We trust this “evidence” more than we trust God.

This is why we make novenas to the Blessed Mother, why we fast, why we say extra prayers kneeling at the tabernacle, why we pray the same thing over and over and over again. We take advantage of every opportunity to achieve greater prayer results. And this is very good! However, while there is value in persistent prayer, repetitious prayer does not work magic. Peter says, “Remain calm so that you will be able to pray.”

What matters is our relationship with God in prayer, not the amount or type of prayer.

Peter gives us a few additional keys that unlock the power of prayer. Re-read the passage from his letter and meditate on how each of his instructions increases your love and therefore your trust level.

Reflect further on this issue with our WordByte: “Stand Strong to Lift Up the Truth” @ https://wordbytes.org/victory/lift-up-the-truth/

© by Terry A. Modica, Good News Ministries

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