Shaken by Prayer

In today's reading from Acts we hear about the Apostles praying to the Lord for strength, to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And as they pray the place where they stood shook! When I was a kid I remember vividly asking my second grade teacher my first theological question, "Does God always answer your prayers?" Surely I thought this would be impossible, but she said that God does hear everyones prayers and answers them. I remember spending the next few days thinking up crazy scenarios of things for which people could pray: to win the super bowl, a new bike, a million dollars, and surely God would answer their prayers. So I tried it. "Dear Lord, please make me rich, please give me a million dollars. Amen." . . . Nothing happened. I still needed to save my money to go buy baseball cards. "Aha!" I thought, "maybe God doesn't answer them right away, but of course he HAS TO because I prayed it, so one day I will have a million dollars." I am still waiting, and I hate to admit it, but maybe I misunderstood my teacher in second grade. But Jesus says in the Gospel if we only have faith the size of a mustard seed we could move mountains! And today the earth shakes at the prayer of the Apostles! So what does this look like today?
This weekend I had the honor of being present for and serving the Deaconate Ordination of two of my brother seminarians. They have been praying for years about what the Lord is calling them to do with their lives, and on Saturday the Church resoundingly said "Yes, we call you, the Lord calls you, and we will support you in your work serving the Church." These men prostrated themselves before the Bishop and the Altar as we prayed to the Saints to ask the Lord to bless them and give them strength. And as they got up and knelt before the Bishop, their prayers, the prayers of the Church, and the prayers of the saints shook their lives. The imposition of hands shook their identities and the future of the Church!
As I reflect on this ordination, I realize that it is perhaps easy to see the Lord shaking our world in celebrations as grand as the celebration of ordination, or in the celebration of new life in the Church we witnessed on Holy Saturday. But in faith we can witness to the reality of the Resurrection of the Lord shaking our lives this Easter season. This is what the reading from Acts today and all of this Holy Season call us to: to believe in the presence of the risen Lord and to gain some glimpse of how He continually shakes our world and our lives. May our world continue to be shaken by the prayer of the Church and the presence of the Risen Christ. Alleluiah!