Recalling a talk given a few years earlier at St. Herman Church by Rev. Fr. Calinic Berger, Fr. Matthew Howell talks about three prayers that you should never leave home without: "Thy will be done" (The Lord's Prayer); "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me" (The Jesus Prayer); and "Glory to God for All Things" (the dying words of St. John Chrysostom). Fr. Matthew uses the gospel passage about the blind man, Bartimaeus, to illustrate the use of these prayers. He points out how we "shush" our faith similar to how the crowd shushed Bartimaeus when he cried out to Jesus. He also talks that God heals us so that we can become His disciples, but often we do not keep our end of the "contract" with God after receiving what we requested from Him. Along the way, he uses a humorous story to illustrate his point, talks about a simplistic prayer rule, and even casually drops the word "megalomaniac" into the homily.
