17th Sunday of Orinary Time
As we hear the apostles asking Jesus to teach the to pray we pray for all the intentions we bring to the Lord this weekend. There are so many things that everyone is praying for but we continue our prayers for Peace in the world especially in Ukraine we also pray for peace and unity in the Church at this time as we remember that God is in charge. In The Gospel this Sunday we hear the disciples asking Jesus to teach them to pray. In response to this request Jesus teaches them how to pray in the words of the our Father. He also encourages them to be unwearied in their prayer because the Father who loves them will pay attention to their pleas.
Prayer is good, because it shows trust in God. As we pray, we are changed as the Our Father says thy kingdom come thy will be done and that is our hope and our prayer that the kingdom of God will come and gods will shall be done. Many people have told me that they have prayed for this or that intention but didn’t get that particular thing that they prayed for. My experience is that we often get the thing that we pray for not when we think we need it but when god knows that we really need it. There are so many different forms of prayer such as the Rosary and the Stations of the Cross etc. each of us will have a particular favorite. The greatest example of prayer that has been passed down to us through the generations is the Mass. Each time we gather as a community of believers to take part in the Mass we reaffirm our belief in God made incarnate in Jesus his Son. We also bring all our intentions with us and we leave them for god to answer in his own time. Persistence in prayer is a worthwhile exercise because the God we believe in is not some sulky, withdrawn figure who is unmoved by what he hears and sees remember that our God is with us.
The message of Jesus in the our Father is that our God is one who cares for us as well as concerned about us and those who are close to us. So can we depend on God’s providence to feed us, to shelter us, to clothe us, to save us from violence? If we pray hard enough will God see to it that we have a new car, a better house, maybe win a lottery? God Doesn’t work for us in that way. When things don’t go the way they should, we benefit from our prayers. Think of Jesus in the Garden of Olives. He prayed what was coming his way would not happen. He also added he would abide by God’s will when he said Abba, Father let it be done as you not I would have it. If we stay in sync with the will of God and realize that he is in charge of everything we will grow day by day, despite the good or bad things that come our way we will know that God is our refuge and our strength in all things. These days when so many parts of the world are hurting for many reasons let us remember the power of prayer to help us to do the right thing in the situations we might find ourselves for God will direct us along the right road as we pray to him with a sincere heart.
Fullerton T 