Fr. Louis Birabaluge
17th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR C
In the Gospel of this coming Sunday, an unnamed disciple, seeing Jesus in prayer, asks him to teach us to pray (Lk 11: 1). In Freetown, where I live, there are many advertisements calling for payer such as healing prayer, prayer for success in business, prayer to obtain a visa for oversee…The response to the prayer is sometimes linked to the performance of the pastor or the priest: his ability to do miracles. In this, it is forgotten that the best prayerful attitude is that of the Virgin Mary. We pray expressing our joys, our sorrows our expectations…but keeping in mind these words: May your will be done (Lk 1: 38)
Let us remember that in the Gospel of Matthew, the Lord’s Prayer is introduced by a short catechesis on prayer: When you pray, do not be like hypocrites, those who show off when they pray. When you pray, do not babble like pagans, those who think that they will be heard because of their long prayer using many words (Mt 6: 5-7). The Lord gives us an assurance: Pray in silence and secret, do not shout and do not use many words. Because our Father knows our needs before we ask him (Mt 6: 8). Therefore, like the disciple of today’s Gospel, we can sincerely ask, “Lord, teach us to pray.” We can ask him to forgive our wrong ways of praying, especially when our prayers are ‘self-centered’.
Following our Master, first we need to sit in silence, just aware of him. Then gradually, like the apprentice learning from him, or rather, like good soil becoming fertile from the falling dew, his prayer takes root and germinates in our hearts. Slowly we too begin to repeat that central prayer which links our whole being to the one that Jesus calls, “Abba, Father.”
The Lord’s Prayer which has become our prayer is an open prayer. It is open to God, the Father of all of us, open to his kingdom and not to our success. Its petitions are a list of the needs of all: our daily bread, forgiveness for all and protection against temptations and evil.
The Lord’s Prayer in its simplicity is a real remedy, an antivirus against prayers who are like long lists of individual needs. It teaches us that good prayer praises God first. It seeks his kingdom. Once God has the first place, then human needs, our personal needs are correctly identified and addressed. It reminds us that asking God the Father to give us our daily bread commits us to share our bread with others who are just our brothers and sisters. Because we have One Father in heaven. Asking for God’s forgiveness implies our openness to forgive others. It is the same about God’s protection against any temptation and evil. Our Father protects us so as we can become protectors of others.
The final words of today’s Gospel are consoling words. They ensure us. They are words of hope: Our human fathers grant what their children ask for. What about our Father in heaven? He does, even better than our parents (Lk 11: 13).
17th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR C
In the Gospel of this coming Sunday, an unnamed disciple, seeing Jesus in prayer, asks him to teach us to pray (Lk 11: 1). In Freetown, where I live, there are many advertisements calling for payer such as healing prayer, prayer for success in business, prayer to obtain a visa for oversee…The response to the prayer is sometimes linked to the performance of the pastor or the priest: his ability to do miracles. In this, it is forgotten that the best prayerful attitude is that of the Virgin Mary. We pray expressing our joys, our sorrows our expectations…but keeping in mind these words: May your will be done (Lk 1: 38)
Let us remember that in the Gospel of Matthew, the Lord’s Prayer is introduced by a short catechesis on prayer: When you pray, do not be like hypocrites, those who show off when they pray. When you pray, do not babble like pagans, those who think that they will be heard because of their long prayer using many words (Mt 6: 5-7). The Lord gives us an assurance: Pray in silence and secret, do not shout and do not use many words. Because our Father knows our needs before we ask him (Mt 6: 8). Therefore, like the disciple of today’s Gospel, we can sincerely ask, “Lord, teach us to pray.” We can ask him to forgive our wrong ways of praying, especially when our prayers are ‘self-centered’.
Following our Master, first we need to sit in silence, just aware of him. Then gradually, like the apprentice learning from him, or rather, like good soil becoming fertile from the falling dew, his prayer takes root and germinates in our hearts. Slowly we too begin to repeat that central prayer which links our whole being to the one that Jesus calls, “Abba, Father.”
The Lord’s Prayer which has become our prayer is an open prayer. It is open to God, the Father of all of us, open to his kingdom and not to our success. Its petitions are a list of the needs of all: our daily bread, forgiveness for all and protection against temptations and evil.
The Lord’s Prayer in its simplicity is a real remedy, an antivirus against prayers who are like long lists of individual needs. It teaches us that good prayer praises God first. It seeks his kingdom. Once God has the first place, then human needs, our personal needs are correctly identified and addressed. It reminds us that asking God the Father to give us our daily bread commits us to share our bread with others who are just our brothers and sisters. Because we have One Father in heaven. Asking for God’s forgiveness implies our openness to forgive others. It is the same about God’s protection against any temptation and evil. Our Father protects us so as we can become protectors of others.
The final words of today’s Gospel are consoling words. They ensure us. They are words of hope: Our human fathers grant what their children ask for. What about our Father in heaven? He does, even better than our parents (Lk 11: 13).