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Homily for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
(On Lk 11:1-13)
Fr. Joseph Pham Quoc Van, O.P.
(July 28, 2013)
My dear brothers and sisters,
Today's gospel contains a very important thing in
Christian life, it is prayer. The Gospel of Luke is often described as 'the
Gospel of Prayer,' because in his Gospel St. Luke presents Jesus always
praying to the Father at all important moments of his life. Today's Gospel
Reading also begins with Jesus praying. What a wonderful scene Luke paints for
us today! The disciples watch Jesus at prayer. They see how much prayer means
to him. Impressed, one of them comes forward and says to him, "Lord, teach us to pray..."
In
response, Jesus does more than he is asked, for he teaches them WHAT to pray
for, HOW to pray and WHAT RESULTS they can expect from their prayer. He begins
by sharing the Lord's Prayer with them. Then Jesus completes his lesson
on prayer by telling two parables. The first urges us to persist in prayer.
The second reminds us that we do not always pray for the right things.
God knows best how our prayers should be answered.
Lord,
teach us to pray. Every Christian who prays wants to pray better. They can’t help
but want this. If prayer is desire for God they want to desire more. If prayer
is a reaching out they want to reach further. If prayer is opening to God they
want to open wider. If prayer is union with God they want closer union. Lord,
teach us to pray: this is the plea of every disciple.
The
Lord’s best answer to this question is: Say this when you pray: ‘Father, may
your name be held holy, your kingdom come... .’
Two
wonderful things are going on here. Firstly we praying in the words Jesus
himself has given us to pray and secondly, we discover that we are praying with
him.
We are
praying together, side by side – prayer partners – if you like. But more
than that, Jesus allows us, through the prayer he has given us, to join him in his
prayer, and we discover that we are praying through him, with him, in
him. Our prayer becomes his prayer.
To pray
as Christians is to put ourselves in the situation where we see God as father
and speak to Him as His children. When children speak to their parents, there
is hardly a right or wrong way. They simply focus on one thing, to put into
words and body language what they feel in the heart.
Children
trust their parents to always do what is in the children’s best interest. “Is there anyone among you who, if your child
asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for
an egg, will give a scorpion?” Children, like the friend at midnight,
refuse to take no for an answer. Say no to them and tomorrow they are sure to
come back with the very same request. Jesus teaches us, as God’s children, to
show the same spirit of perseverance in prayer.
My dear
brothers and sisters, to summarise the rest of the Gospel reading today we
might say that Jesus teaches us to pray also with persistence and with hope.
Our prayers will be answered. That is his promise. Ask and it will be given to
you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you.
