Lord, Teach Us To Pray!

 (Homily 17^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Yr. C)

     The readings of this Sunday revolve around the theme of prayer and the different modalities of praying. Abraham in the first reading was a model of prayer and intercession for the inhabitants of Sodom. In the Gospel Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray, with the prayer of Our Father, he taught them two different ways of praying: the prayer of desire which we see in the first part and the prayer of supplication that we see in the second part. The passage of the letter to Colossians in the second reading does not talk about prayer directly, but we can say that it offers a good background and foundation to every Christian prayer, especially in the liturgical assembly, which is the mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. However, in the event of Jesus we can talk about a prayer that becomes life, the gift of himself for love!

     The first reading (Gn. 18:20-21.23-32) from the book of Genesis is a notable episode of Abraham who prays to God so that he will save the corrupt and sinful Sodom and Gomorrah from destruction. As he intercedes on their behalf he looks up to the few just people in the land if at all there are. The crux of the reading is God’s impending destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. But more than that, it also serves as a reflection on the issue of divine justice, orchestrated in the form of a dialogue between God and Abraham. Therein, Abraham serves as a mouthpiece of the fact that God will not destroy Sodom, if the destruction meant equally the destruction of the few righteous people. God indeed in his benevolence was ready to save them from the impending catastrophe, if at least he found ten just persons that fear God, he will avert the rage and the impending destruction. However, the city was not spared; rather this intercessory dialogue exposes more the wickedness of Sodom. Give or take, this passage depicts God as a God of mercy and justice.

     This episode draws our attention and reawakens our consciousness on the fact that God is not only disposed in welcoming the supplications of the just (e.g.: Abraham), but he also takes into consideration the merits of the just in order not to punish the wicked. Moreover, this episode has to stimulate us (Christians) to become just men and women before God, particularly in the fear of God and accomplishment of good works. In our world today, maybe more or less like Sodom and Gomorrah, filled with corruption and evil of all sorts, we are called to be the few that God can look upon and save our land. To say it with St. Elisabeth of Trinity, we are called to become the “prolongation of the humanity of Christ” in the world.

     In the Gospel narrative (Lk. 11:1-13) Jesus teaches us to go to the Father with extreme trust, with the appellation: “Father”. He says “when you pray, this is what to say: Father…” (v.2). Thus, he invites us to pray with simplicity, confidence, and a filial consciousness. This narrative consists of two parts: the Lord’s Prayer and a chain of sayings on the prayer of petition. Here, St. Luke omits the “our”, which Mathew added (cf. Mt.6:9-13), and it is a pronoun that reveals the closeness of Jesus with his Father. Upon gazing and looking at Jesus on the different occasions they have observed him praying, the disciples developed the zeal and desire to pray. Little wonder, one of them advanced with the touching demand: “Lord teach us to pray as John taught his disciples” (v.1). They must have been strongly impressed with His way of praying. The disciples must have seen that Jesus was dedicating time for prayers, that from his prayers he was drawing strength and courage for his mission, and that through it his rapport with the Father is nourished and enlivened. They must have been drawn by the quality and modality of his prayer.

     The appellation “Father” by Jesus reveals the filial consciousness he has towards God the Father, and this is the basis of his obedience and mission. ●“Hallowed be thy name” is the first petition in the prayer and it is a glorification of the name of God. This is the substance of the prayer of Jesus, equally in his priestly prayer Jesus says: “I have revealed your name to those whom you took from the world to give me” (Jn. 17:6). ●While Luke says “Thy Kingdom come” which has an eschatological undertone, Mathew added “your will be done? The two phrases integrate each other, one can say: Thy Kingdom come, that is, Your will be done, because what is the Kingdom if not the universal salvific will of God manifested in Jesus Christ, the Autobasileia. But sometimes, we may be perplexed asking when the Kingdom of God will come. Worry not, for Jesus has cleared this doubt thus: “The coming of the Kingdom of God does not admit of observation and there will be no one to say, Look, it is here! Look, it is there! For look, the Kingdom of God is among you” (Lk. 17:20-21). The Kingdom was standing right there before them! The same thing is applicable to us today: the kingdom of God is in our midst! As a matter of fact, the meaning of each petition in the Lord’s Prayer revolves around the proclamation of the Kingdom of God, not necessarily as a future hope, but above all as a reality that is proleptically present in his own person-Autobasileia.

     In the episode, first, Jesus encourages them to ask Him (the Father) what has to do with their spiritual life (that his name maybe sanctified in us, and that his Kingdom maybe established in us, that he forgives our sins, and in turn we will forgive those who sinned against us and that he should not allow us to fall into temptation). He also taught them to ask for all that is necessary for our earthly life (give us this day, our daily bread). Second, he encouraged them to pray to the Father with insistence and perseverance, as one would do with a friend, even in odd hours, with the assurance of being listened and heard: “ask and it will be given to you, search and you shall find” (v.19). Lastly, he encouraged them to pray to the Father with the conviction that He knows how “to give good things” to his children. He will even give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him, which is the Supreme good we have to ask before anything else, for his presence is replete with grace, love, joy, peace, light, strength and consolation.

     What does daily bread signify? This stands to indicate what nourishes and sustains man at least physically. And he says “give us”; as such it becomes an invitation for us to think on how better to share the bread he sends to humanity through the earth and the works of human hands. The bread is not given to an individual person but to “us”, this makes the value of sharing paramount in Christian life. The second to the last petition in the Lukan account goes thus: “forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive each one who is in debt to us”, it is the only petition in which we not only ask for something but we also make a promise: to forgive our brothers and sisters. Here, there is a precise condition: we cannot recite the Lord’s Prayer with resentment in the heart, with un-forgiveness, without embarking on self-condemnation. And lastly, “do not put us to the test”, Mathew was more detailed, for he added the type of test in question: “but save us from the Evil One” (Mt. 6:13b). The temptation here does neither come from us nor from God, for God does not tempt anyone (cf. Jm. 1:13), but from the Evil One comes the temptation that is capable of making us to doubt the paternity of God. Little wonder, Jesus exhorts us: “Pray not to be put to test” (Lk. 22:40). In this case, we have to ask God to give us the grace and the strength as he promised: “None of the trials which have come upon you is more than a human being can stand. You can trust that God will not let you be put to the test beyond your strength, but with any trial will also provide a way out by enabling you to put up with it” (1Cor. 10:13).

     Indeed many a times the manner in which we say this prayer gives the impression that we have lost the sense of the mystery hidden in those words, words that came out of the mouth of God and addressed to the ears of God. St. Luke has revealed to us the genesis of this prayer, it springs from the prayer of Jesus. It can also happen that we do not obtain what we pray for. It is either that we do not merit it or it is better for us not to have it, or God will do it in his own time or he wants to put our faith to the test. It can also be as St James opined: "You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions” (Jm.4:2). It is equally true that God knows what we need even before we ask him, but he wants us to ask and knock at his door, and also for us to affirm our trust in Him. For this Jesus invited us: “Stay awake, praying at all times” (Lk. 21:36), and again “pray continually and never lose heart” (Lk. 18:1). In the same vein, St. Paul exhorts us in the following words: “pray constantly” (1Th. 5:17); “In all your prayer and entreaty keep praying in the Spirit on every possible occasion” (Eph. 6:18).               

     Drawing the issue further, there is indeed a resemblance between the Lord’s Prayer and the Eucharist. In the Eucharist the presence of Jesus who gives himself to the Father for humanity is perpetuated: “Here am I among you as one who serves” (Lk. 22:27); in the Lord’s Prayer the presence of Jesus who prays is perpetuated: “He lives forever to intercede for us” (Heb. 7:25). In the Eucharist there is communion in the body of Christ, and in the Lord’s Prayer there is communion in the prayer of Christ. This is truly the “spiritual communion” that we can activate every moment, when the sacramental one is not possible.

     On the other hand, the most sublime existential and ethical invitation in relation to the Lord’s Prayer comes to us by Apostle Peter thus: And if you address as Father him who judges without favoritism according to each individual’s deeds, live out the time of your exile here in reverent awe” (1Pt. 1:17), and the purpose for this invitation is seen in the subsequent verse: “For you know that the price of your ransom from the futile way of life handed down from your ancestors was paid, not in anything perishable like silver and gold, but in precious blood as of a blameless and spotless lamb, Christ” (1Pt. 1:18-19).

     As St. Paul expressed in the second reading (Col. 2:12-14) we are buried with Christ and immersed in his redemptive death, and with him, we are risen to the divine life, we are raised from death that we were for our sins. St. Paul advances an idea that the baptized are already risen, even though he later emphasized on the need of implementing the resurrection in question by ethical obedience, and that brings this idea closer to the one in his letter to the Romans (cf.Rm.6), where he affirmed that in Baptism we participate in the death of Christ, but our rising with him is consequent upon our daily dying to sin and the willingness to walk in the newness of life. Behold, Christ is our Great Intercessor, who through the mediation of his salvific death reconciled us with the Father and redeemed us from sin. We continue to enjoy the benefits of his work of redemption, mediation and intercession before the Father. And from the power of his mediation and intercession we can “mediate” and “intercede” before God in favor of our brothers and sisters. Indeed, through us and through the entire members of his mystical body, Christ wants to continue his work of redemption in the world. For this St. John writes: “for this is how God loved the world: he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. For God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but so that through him the world might be saved” (Jn. 3:16-17).

     Beloved in Christ, we need to join our voices to that of the disciple in entreating Jesus: “Lord, teach us how to pray”. Let us learn therefore, not only how to ask for our own good, but also to assume the same disposition of heart and the same spirit with which Jesus presents himself to the Father. Above all, we ought to pray with great humility like Abraham, conscious that we are dust and ash, but at the same time with insistence and audacity, as a sign of confidence, trust and filial love; and not as a way of bending God to our will and demands. To say it with St. Paul: “Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything, by prayer and thanksgiving; let your requests be made known to God” (Phil. 4:6). Lord, teach us to pray!

(Fr. Vitus M.C. Unegbu, SC)