ASK, SEEK, AND KNOCK

Homily for 17^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

Fr. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR

St. John’s Church, Lamar Avenue & Holy Names Church, Keel Avenue

Memphis, TN, USA

July 25, 2010

I once asked my Eight Grade students who they would like to talk to. Before I could finish, a student shouted “I will like to talk to President Obama.” Another said “I will like to talk to his wife, Michelle Obama.” Yet another said, “I will like to talk to Beyonce.” Every one of them has someone important and famous in the society that he or she would like to talk to. But one student amazed us. She said “It will be nice to talk to the President, but the most important person to talk to is God. Talking to all those people is nothing compared to talking to God. This morning I talked to God, and that is the greatest.”

During the last Lenten season, I was hearing Confession at St. Francis of Assisi Church. A fourteen year white girl came in. She told me in tears how frustrated she has been due to God’s failure to talk to her. “Father, I have been praying and talking to God; I have been begging him to speak to me. I want to hear God talk to me. But God hasn’t,” she said to me. I thanked God that I encountered this godly teenager who has been asking, seeking, and knocking on the door of heaven to hear the voice of God. I remember telling her that God has actually been speaking to her: “God speaks to you particularly through your parents, teachers and your priests,” I said to her.

Dearest in Christ Jesus, the two stories I have shared with you are about two young people who understands the vital importance of prayer. Prayer is said to be “the lifting up of the mind and heart to God.” Prayer is seeking union with God. Prayer is “touching God.” Prayer is a conversation between the believer and God. Conversation as you know involves two or more persons. There must be talking and listening. When you talk to God, God listens; God too has something to say to you. So after talking to him, you need to listen to hear what God has to say to you. When we pray, we are telling God that our lives are dependent on Him; and when we don’t pray, we are telling God just the opposite.

In today’s gospel taken from Luke 11: 1-13, Jesus speaks about prayer. Jesus himself was at prayer: “Jesus was praying in a certain place…” (Luke 11: 1a). The disciples have long been watching Jesus pray. So on this day of prayer (as I always describe it), they decided to approach him with a request “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples” (Luke 11: 1b). It is important to consider the request of Jesus’ disciples more closely because it teaches us the kind of disciples they were, and the kind of disciples we should be. It is imperative to consider that the disciple who made the request on behalf of others did not say “Lord, pray for us.” His request was “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” For Christians who run around looking for someone to pray for them without making any effort to pray, this gospel passage is addressed to you. It is good to ask others to pray for you especially those who have special gifts- gifts of healing, working miracles, gift of faith, discerning of spirits, prophecy etc. You can ask your priest to pray for; you can ask your pastor to pray for you; you can ask a Charismatic healer to pray for you; you can ask a team of firebrand Christians to pray for you. In spiritual matters that deserve a spiritual warfare, like healing the family tree, breaking curses and covenants, breaking the yoke and shackles of one step forward, three steps backwards, childlessness, early death running through a family, generational infirmity, generational and lifelong spinsterhood and bachelorhood, spiritual war against the forces of darkness (i.e. Satan, demons, occultic powers, mermaid spirits, witches/wizards, evil men and women who use Satanic powers to hurt others, rendering impotent charms and amulets), you can ask a team of faithful and powerful Christians who are sincerely functioning with and in the holy Name of Jesus to assist you in waging war against evil men and women that trouble you. You can seek assistance in waging war against these satanic agents who come “only to steal, to kill and to destroy.” But asking for the prayers of others does not dispense you from being a man or a woman of prayer. You must know how to pray! You must learn to pray! You must pray! The way of prayer is an inevitable and unavoidable way a Christian must walk along if you must remain a faithful Christian. It is in prayer that you encounter the Lord in a most supreme way. It is in prayer that the Lord assures you of his constant presence. It is in prayer that the Lord shows you the way to walk. It is in prayer that your union and relationship with Jesus is strengthened. Prayer is touching God; it is in prayer that you draw spiritual currents to shine out as the light of Christ made present in the world. In prayer, your tastefulness as the salt of the earth is deepened. So after asking others to pray for you, you must pray if you must remain a faithful disciple who can weather every storm.

After the request has been made by one of the disciples “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples,” Jesus taught them what has come to be known as “The Lord’s Prayer.” Although we pray this prayer “Our Father” each time we celebrate Mass, but it is also important to understand that this prayer is simply an outline or a summary for prayer. Jesus was basically us to do the following when we pray:

Acknowledge God: Our Father who art in heaven;

Praise God: Hallowed be thy name;

Ask to do God’s will: Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven;

Make request: Give us this day, our daily bread;

Confess your sins: Forgive us our sins (trespasses), as we forgave those who sin (trespass) against us;

Pray for protection and to overcome temptations: Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from all evil;

End your prayer praising him and thanking for answering your prayer: For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and for ever.

Dearest beloved, as we can see, most of our prayers should not always take on the request part; we should also praise God for his greatness. We should thank God for God’s many blessings; we should also remember to tell God how disobedient we have been, and ask for forgiveness. So the Lord’s Prayer has all the outline of prayers and that makes it one of the most beautiful prayers to survive generations after generations.

In Jesus’ theology of prayer, persistence and insistence are vitally important. Persistence in prayer tests our resolve. It strengthens our faith and reliance on God. With the story of a man who ran to another friend at night when he had a visitor, asking for three loaves of bread in order to feed a friend who had come to his house from a journey, Jesus explains what we should do in time of need and difficulty. Like that man, we should learn to run to God for help. Now if our request is not being granted immediately, Jesus urges us not to give up, but to continue to knock on the door ceaselessly. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened” (Luke 11: 9).

In today’s gospel, Jesus makes a promise to all those who seek: “You will find.” But you may not find the exact thing you were looking for, but what you get is surely going to be the perfect will of God for you. When we pray to the good God, we must be open to the fact that our way may not be God’s way; our will may not be God’s will. And that certainly is what prayer is all about. It is seeking God’s answer for the struggles of our lives.

To the one who knocks, Jesus promised an open door. If the man who came to his friend for three loaves of bread did not go away, we too should not go away when our prayer request has not been answered. And if the friend eventually came out and attended to the need of his friend, the good God too will not hesitate to open the door and pour out his many blessings on the one who is asking, seeking and knocking. We do not like to be pestered upon. But God welcomes it.

Finally, Jesus asks us to ask. Prayer involves asking as well. Jesus talks about a human father who would not give his child a serpent when he/she asks for a fish. When a child asks for a piece of meat, no human father will hand him/her a spider. The father will always give to the child whatever he/she asks for as long as it is what the father can give. But suppose the child asks for something that the father knows would be harmful and injurious to the child, is the father obliged to give what would harm his child? Hell no! Some of you will scream.

Friends, let us remember to bring all our worries, concerns, aspirations, needs, and challenges to the Lord. Pray in season and out of season! Pray always and do not loose heart. Keep on praying in the Spirit. Don’t quit half way. You are nearer to having your prayers answered. Don’t give up now!

May God bless you today, bless you tomorrow, bless you everyday, and bless forever!