Gospel & Reflection for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Luke 11:1-13
Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say:
Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins or we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and do not subject us to the final test.”
And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend to whom he goes at midnight and says,
‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer him,’ and he says in reply from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked and my children and I are already in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.’
I tell you, if he does not get up to give the visitor the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.
“And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?
If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”
Reflection
Lionel Blue was an English Rabbi and one of the most respected religious figures in Britain at the time of his death in 2016. Reflecting once on his difficult faith journey, he recalled the words of his pious Russian Grandmother who assured him that if he prayed for something unselfishly and with all his heart, God would make it happen. But as a young Jewish man, he often thought of the holocaust and asked what about the prayers of all those people being transported to concentration camps in cattle wagons? Their prayers must have been among the sincerest ever made but they were not answered in any way in which he could understand. For a long time, this thought saw him wrestling with God and faith.
But he came to see it all in these terms when he said: “Religion is not a way to change the cosmos to suit my convenience, but a way to start changing myself. Prayer didn’t make my problems vanish but it did give me enough courage to face them.”
Friends, prayer is the one aspect of Faith that is common to every religion. While religions do differ on aspects of dogma, creed and instruction, every religion encourages prayer. In our Gospel, Jesus both teaches and encourages His disciples to pray continually and never to lose heart. He asks the very same of us today. But just what is meant by Prayer? The Catechism of the Catholic Church, quoting the words of St. John of Damacus, defines prayer as “…the raising of one’s mind and heart to God”.
Prayer is therefore communication with God, sometimes in words, sometimes in silence. Communication translates as being ‘one with’. So, in prayer, we seek to become one with God, not just in speaking with Him but also in listening to Him. Prayer helps us to build and strengthen our relationship with God, where not only do we talk and listen but we worship, we petition, we thank and often, like Rabbi Blue, even wrestle.
Wrestling with God is important to acknowledge because as we all might agree with – prayer can be very frustrating! We pray and we pray and pray even more, for something to happen or not happen, for a result, for some good fortune, for a happy outcome, for a cure, to mention just a few things. We pray and pray and if it does not work out as we hoped, it can make us feel angry, hurt, even doubtful about God who we thought was there to listen and respond.
But maybe that is what happens when we treat God or understand Him as if He were some sort of vending machine. We chose what we want, we say our prayer and then wait for it to be dispensed automatically! Everything is great when it works, God is there, listening, loving. But when it does not work, people can feel cheated in their trust and faith, doubtful God is there at all.
But that is not prayer. Prayer is the raising of our mind and heart to God. Why then should we pray even when our prayers are so sincere to us and God knows what our needs are before we ever ask?
Well as Rabbi Blue came to understand, prayer is not about forcing God into our thinking and wishing, but about us being brought into trusting in God’s wisdom, providence and love. I truly believe that every prayer is answered. Not always as we want, but always as we need. God will always take care of us. Christ Himself had to learn that. Think of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, praying ferociously that His struggle could be avoided: “Father, take this cup away from me.”
Here Jesus struggles in prayer, wrestles with God His Father but through that wrestling, His prayer allows Him to see that what He needs to do: “Father, let your will be done not mine.” Jesus echoes here the words he taught the disciples and us – “Thy will be done on earth as in Heaven.” That trust gave Him the courage to face His ordeal and to overcome all that He had to face. So, too for us. Where the light of God’s answer shines, may be very different to where we expected to find it but the light of His response will always shine.
Friends, let us heed the encouragement of Christ today and the example of Abraham, that we shall pray continually and never lose heart, trusting in God’s wisdom and care and His answering to our prayers in the way that is best for us.
Fr. Richard
