by Fr. Tommy Lane
Last Sunday we heard about Jesus visiting Martha and Mary. Mary sat at Jesus’ feet while Martha was busy preparing a meal. Jesus said,
Martha, Martha, you
are anxious and worried about many things.
There is need of only
one thing.
Mary has chosen the better part
and it will not be
taken from her. (Luke 10:41-42)
Mary chose the better part. She gave time to Jesus when he visited. Jesus would like to eat a good meal, but later. Jesus would have preferred if Martha spent time with him first. Today’s Gospel continues the idea of spending time with God. Jesus taught the disciples to pray after one of them requested it. We see the same nowadays when a parent or grandparent teaches a child to make the sign of the cross and to pray.
Prayer is essential for living the Christian life. It is that time every day when we make contact with God and talk to God in our own words, sharing our heart with God and Our Lady, and allowing God to speak to us and convert us. In deep prayer, uniting our heart with Jesus, in a sense we are already in the next world.
Jesus taught the Lord’s Prayer / the Our Father. Today we heard Luke’s version but the one we use is Matthew’s which is the same in substance but has different words and contains one extra petition—that God’s will be done (like an extension of the previous petition that God’s kingdom come). The first three petitions concern God’s kingdom: may God’s name be held holy, his kingdom come, and his will be done. Only after praying for God’s kingdom, do we pray for our own needs: that we have enough for our daily requirements, that God forgive us, not allow us fall into temptation, and protect us from evil. In giving us this prayer, Jesus not only gave us a model prayer that we can use many times each day but also taught us about how to approach life: first, be concerned with God’s will, then our own needs. If we are only making requests for ourselves when we pray, the Lord’s prayer has much to teach us: the first petitions all concern God’s will and plan. We go to God in prayer concerned about the kingdom of God firstly and then we make our requests. Commenting on this Pope Francis said in a Wednesday audience:
Prayer is not a magic
wand: it is a dialogue with the Lord. Indeed, when we pray we can
fall into the risk that it is not we who serve God, but we
expect it to be He who serves us . . . Jesus, on the other hand, had great wisdom in teaching us the
Lord’s Prayer. It is a
prayer of petitions only, as we know, but the first ones we utter
are all on God’s side . . . In prayer, it is God who must convert
us, not we who must convert God. It is humility. I go to pray but
You, Lord, convert my heart so that it will ask for what is
appropriate, for what will be best for my spiritual health.
Following the Lord’s prayer, in the story about a friend going to another during the night looking for food, Jesus taught the importance of continuing to pray even if it takes a long time for prayer to be answered. Again, commenting on what looks like a delay in our prayer being answered, Pope Francis said,
On some occasions, therefore, the solution to the problem is not immediate. In our life too, each one of us has this experience. Let us look back a little: how many times have we asked for a grace, a miracle, let’s say, and nothing has happened. Then, over time, things have worked out but in God’s way, the divine way, not according to what we wanted in that moment. God’s time is not our time.(Pope Francis, Catechesis 35 on Prayer, Wednesday, May 26, 2021)
In the life of Jesus too we see this: his prayer in Gethsemane before his passion seemed unanswered but was answered in his resurrection. Commenting on this Pope Francis said,
The prayer that Jesus addresses to the Father in Gethsemane also seems to go unheard. “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me”. It seems that the Father does not listen to him. The son must drink fully from the cup of the passion. But Holy Saturday is not the final chapter, because on the third day, Sunday, is the Resurrection. Evil is lord of the penultimate day . . . On the penultimate day, there is temptation, when evil makes us think it has won: “Did you see? I won!” . . . But evil is never lord of the last day: God is the Lord of the last day because that belongs to God alone, and it is the day when all human longings for salvation will be fulfilled. Let us learn this humble patience, of waiting for the Lord’s grace, waiting for the final day. Very often, the penultimate day is very hard, because human sufferings are hard. But the Lord is there. And on the last day, he resolves everything. (Pope Francis, Catechesis 35 on Prayer, Wednesday, May 26, 2021)
As we wait patiently in prayer, remember the first reading today (Gen 20:18-32): a small number of fervent people praying can save a city. While you wait, your prayer is not wasted; it is working powerfully in the background in ways that are unknown to us and that perhaps we will see in the next life. The prayers of all of you here today are accomplishing much for the world in ways that are unknown to us. I encourage you to set aside a good amount of time every day for prayer. Continue praying in faith. Prayer is essential for living the Christian life. It is that time every day when we make contact with God and talk to God in our own words, sharing our heart with God and Our Lady, and allowing God to speak to us and convert us. Continue praying in faith. Your prayer is not wasted; it is working powerfully in the background in ways that are unknown to us.
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2022
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More Homilies for the Seventeenth Sunday of Year C
Prayer: come before God just as you are 2019
Prayer can change the course of the future 2007
Prayer is good for you: keep praying
Related Homilies: Intercessory Prayer
stories about God as Father
stories about God's mercy
stories about prayer
stories: The Lord’s Prayer (a dialogue)