17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle C, Year I)
Community Word: The Lord empowers the modern day disciples to spread His word.
Theme: As modern day disciples, we spread His word when we persevere in prayer.
Promise: “And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Lk 11:9)
Reflection:
PRAYER HELPS
When reading the Gospel passage today, it is best to be honest with yourself and ask: Do I really want to learn to pray – pray the way Jesus taught his first disciples? Was there ever a time when I hungered for a prayer relationship with God, or found myself asking Him to teach me to pray, because I don’t know where to begin, and what to pray for?
And if you do pray, perhaps you may also want to examine where you are now in your prayer life? How often do you go to God in prayer? Do you feel the presence of God when you pray? Amidst the distractions of the world today, do you persevere in prayer?
Today’s Gospel is a short four-verse teaching on prayer by Jesus, but its importance cannot be overemphasized, as prayer can be likened to a key that unlocks the heart of God. Prayer is at the heart of every Christian relationship with the Lord, and no disciple can expect to go through life without prayer, as Mary discovered when she sat at his foot, and found the “one thing that is needed.” (Lk 10:42). Prayer is also the “one thing” we need to connect to Our God. In today’s Gospel, Jesus is again at prayer after a hectic day, and before he rests for the night. Wherever Jesus and his disciples were spending the night, He always made it a point to look for a secluded place to pray and commune with his Father. On this particular occasion, one of his disciples asked Him: “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples,”(v.1). This disciple obviously knew what he was saying because it was customary for Rabbis to teach their disciples even a simple prayer, and John the Baptist had done this for his disciples. But the disciple did not just want to know how to pray, because his request is interpreted by many religious scholars, as a desire to pray like Jesus because he sees a connectedness to God in the way Jesus prays. This is the whole point of this Gospel. Prayer is our lifeline to God. It establishes a connection between us and God, like an imaginary path we can tread leading to His Kingdom. Prayer is in fact entering into a conversation with God. Merely thinking of God is not prayer, because the devil also thinks of God, but he does not pray to Him. So when we pray, we must use our understanding, allow ourselves to set aside our worldly concerns and take delight in Him.
Though Luke has a shorter version of the Lord’s Prayer than Matthew (6:9-13), it is irrelevant which of the two versions is right or more appropriate. The Lord’s Prayer (Our Father) has been described by the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC2761) as the “summary of the whole Gospel.” Thus, St. John Chrysostom says: “to be permitted to talk with his Creator and hold familiar intercourse with Him, is the greatest honor and privilege mortal man can enjoy.”
While there is also no doubt that we can obtain all things from God through prayer, we must also be resigned to God’s will: “Not my will, but yours be done,” (Lk 22:42). Likewise, we should remember that our prayers are never in vain, but the time and manner of its fulfillment are in the hands of God and depends upon His will.
When Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, he made forgiveness a cornerstone of the prayer and their relationship with God. As God forgives us, so too, must we unconditionally forgive those who wrong us. To persist in unforgiveness only shows that we do not understand that we ourselves need to be forgiven. It is by means of prayer that sinners are justified because prayer earns for the sinner the graces of contrition and enables the just to continue in a state of grace. Prayer is a safeguard against temptation and sin, and an antidote to the poison of temptation. As St. Alphonsus once said, “The souls in heaven are there because they have prayed well; the condemned are in hell because they have not prayed.” Thus, failure to pray is the first step to unbelief and, eventually to hell. St. John Chrysostom also stresses: “Prayer is the one thing that men have in common with angels” and prayer unites the created with His Creator.
Persistence is also what we see in the Gospel today and the dictionary defines this as staying power, perspicacity, tenacity, tenaciousness, doggedness, indefatigability, boldness and relentlessness. There are other words that describe it, but what are enumerated here more or less provides us an idea of what it means. Of these words, it is tenaciousness, doggedness, boldness and relentlessness which aptly describe the action of the man in the parable of the neighbor who went to his friend to ask for bread in the middle of the night because an unexpected guest had come to visit, and he was caught unprepared. This parable was not just about persistence in prayer, but about the way we relate to our neighbor. Again we might ask “who is my neighbor?” Well, anyone who is in need is our neighbor, and in this parable the man who was traveling and dropped in unannounced definitely falls into the category of a neighbor.
This parable shows that if the boldness of the man could propel his neighbor “to get up and give him as much as he needs,” (v.8) how much more hospitable can God be who is sure to give us what we need? But such generosity on the part of God is conditioned to the level of trust and confidence we have in Him. And in this parable, God raised the bar even higher because what he is prepared to give is none other than the Holy Spirit who not only showers us with his many gifts but helps “… us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will,” Romans 8:26-27 (NIV).
Reflection Questions:
1. How is your prayer life? How much time do you spend in sincere and heartfelt prayer with God?
2. Share on your direction to be serious in starting a habit of prayer and persevere in it.
This Week’s Daily Mass Reading Guide:
July 28, 2013 (Sun) Gn 18:20-32/Ps 138:1-3,6-8/Col 2:12-14/Lk 11:1-13
July 29, 2013 (Mon) Ex 32:15-24,30-34/Ps 106:19-23/Mt 13:31-35 or Jn 11:19-27 or Lk 10:38-42
July 30, 2013 (Tues) Ex 33:7-11;34:5-9,28/Ps 103:6-13/Mt 13:36-43
July 31, 2013 (Wed) Ex 34:29-35/Ps 99:5,6,7,9/Mt 13:44-46
August 1, 2013 (Thur) Ex 40:16-21,34-38/Ps 84:3-6,8,11/Mt 13:47-53
August 2, 2013 (Fri) Lv 23:1,4-11,15,16,27,34-47/ Ps 81:3-6,10,11/Mt 13:54-58
August 3, 2013 (Sat) Lv 25:8-17/Ps 67:2,3,5,7,8/Mt 14:1-12
“Ignorance of the Bible is ignorance of Christ. Read your Bible daily!”
