Homily for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

Why Pray?

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

St. Mary of Assumption Church, Whittier, CA

Sunday, July 24, 2016

Prayer is the lifting up of the mind and heart to God. It’s a conversation with God, meaning, we talk to God and we let God talk to us. Prayer is touching God the source of grace and everything that is good. Those who pray always as Jesus taught, will always be connected to God. Prayer is the lifting up of an empty cup to God and saying to him, “Fill it up, dear God.” In fact, in Psalm 81:10, the Lord assures us, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Egypt (that is, slavery). Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.” In prayer, we thank God for what he has done for us and praise him for who he is. We talk to him about our needs, concerns and worries, like, health concerns, financial challenges, spiritual and moral struggles etc. We ask him to be merciful to us because we are sinners. We ask for his help to do better, to improve our relationship with him and with others. We pray for the protection of our lives, property, community, and our nation. People who pray often, do all these and even much more.

Abraham’s dialogue with God recorded in Genesis 18:20-32 is a form of prayer, an intercessory prayer on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah. The twin-cities were deeply sinful, corrupt and immoral. Prophets like Isaiah, Ezekiel and Jeremiah attributed their destruction to widespread injustice (Isaiah 1:1-10; 3:9), oppression of the poor (Ezekiel 16:46-51), and corruption (Jeremiah 23:14). But long before they gave their verdicts, Abraham, the father of nations, had noticed that the twin-cities could be destroyed by God to deter other nations against choosing the path of unrighteousness. Like a good father, Abraham began to pray and intercede on their behalf. In his dialogic prayer, he appealed to God’s mercy. He tried to persuade him to consider sparing the cities for the sake of a few righteous people. Abraham was convinced that Sodom and Gomorrah, although deeply sinful, would definitely have fifty or thirty or twenty, or even ten innocent people. So, he pleaded with God to spare the whole of the cities for their sake. God, being merciful and compassionate promised Abraham that he would spare the cities if only he can find a few number of innocent people. Abraham knew who God is. He knew that he would never sweep the innocent away with the guilty. He therefore applied his knowledge of God into action—interceding for a sinful nation. God was going to listen to his plea for mercy. Unfortunately, there was not even a single upright person in Sodom and Gomorrah, except a foreigner, Lot, the nephew of Abraham, whom God eventually asked to flee to avoid the impending destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. 

The Gospel (Luke 11:1-13) tells us that after Jesus had finished praying, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” I refuse to believe that prior to this time, none of the disciples of Jesus had prayed. I don’t think they did not know how to pray. Previously, some of them were disciples of John, who as noted in this Gospel passage, had taught his disciples to pray. I think Jesus’ disciples had prayed previously, but this time they wanted to pray like Jesus: “Lord, teach us to pray like you.” They wanted to pray as Jesus prayed. They wanted to know the format or formula of his prayers. They wanted to know what Jesus said when he was at prayer. Their request was granted. And this is what Jesus taught them:

Begin your prayer by acknowledging that you have a Father. Pray that his name will be greatly revered and respected. Pray for the coming of his kingdom, that is, the establishment of his kingdom on earth. Ask him for your daily provisions of food and drink. Since you are all sinners, do not forget to ask for forgiveness, of course, that’s after you have forgiven your offenders. Finally, ask him to deliver you from temptations that are difficult to resist. This prayer commonly called “Our Lord’s Prayer” is a formula for prayer. In it, Jesus lays out for us, the formula to be followed when we pray. It does not mean that’s the only prayer we are to say. He was also teaching us to be simple and direct when we pray. There is no need to multiply words. What makes a prayer efficacious is not the amount of words used, rather, the amount of persistence and insistence. Jesus wants us to be simple and persistent in prayer. If you have asked before, and it has not been granted, ask again, and again and again. 

Now, if you have ever wondered what the role of prayer really is, if you are asking yourself right now if prayer changes the mind of God, you are not the only one. I have been there before. Like you, I have wondered why certain petitions I made to God are yet to be granted. I wondered because in today’s Gospel, Jesus said “…ask and you will receive, seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” But I want us to know this, God does answer every prayer, but we may not always get exactly what we asked for. Like a good parent, he knows what’s the best for us. A good parent does not hand a child a razor blade. Children are generally attracted by the shinny and bling nature of objects like a razor blade. But when a child cries aloud in order to have it, a good parent does not hand it over to him. Why? Because the parent knows what would definitely happen when the child gets hold of it. That’s how God deals with us sometimes. Like I said before, God answers our prayers. When we pray and ask for something, God’s response could be “Yes,” or “No, I have something else for you,” or “Not yet.” Prayer is not an information. When we pray, we are not informing God what he doesn’t already know. God is omniscience. Psalm 139:4 says, “Before ever a word is on my tongue, you know it O Lord, through and through.” Even before we ask, he knows about our needs. Nevertheless, Jesus wants us to ask because by praying, we develop trust in the Lord. By praying, we become more patient, waiting for the Lord’s answer. By praying, we dispose ourselves to accept whatever God eventually gives to us. God is unchangeable. Therefore, prayer does not change him, rather, it changes us to accept God’s will, i.e. whatever God turns out to give to us. Let me tell you what prayer does for me aside all I have said already, it makes me spiritually confident. When I have prayed and committed my life and everything to God, I become more confident, not proud, that I am in the hands of the Greatest of all. I become less fearful of the unknown because I believe I am with the Majority. And God is the majority.