17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

My dear parishioners,

God is Good!!!  All the time!!!  And all the time!!!  God is Good!!!

Our first reading informs us that Abraham is a chosen servant, so God reveals to him the purpose of the journey towards Sodom. In doing this, God entrusts Abraham with an important task. The patriarch must impress upon his children and his household how crucial it is to live a life in right relationship with God. Sodom and Gomorrah will go to ruin because they chose not to live a life in relationship with God.

In the Gospel reading, the evangelist Luke emphasizes Jesus’ practice of prayer more than any other Gospel. Nevertheless, Luke does not attempt to develop a theology of prayer. He basically shows Jesus at prayer in a wide variety of situations. Luke cannot presuppose that his communities have the deep Jewish experiences of prayer that Mt can assume. So here, Lk presents the model Lord’s Prayer, followed by an interesting story emphasizing the need for perseverance, even in prayer.

Many groups at the time of Jesus had set prayer forms that tended to provide them with an identity. Apparently, John the Baptist’s disciples had such a form. Jesus’ disciples request that they be given a specific prayer form. Jesus responds with a rather brief and simple prayer known now as the Lord’s Prayer. This prayer is found in three places: Mt 6:9-13, Lk 11:2-4, and Didache 8:2. Luke’s version is the shortest and some say structurally it is closest to the original.

Luke’s Lord’s Prayer consists of five petitions. God is addressed as “Father” (Abba in Aramaic). This is important because it is a term of intimacy, designating the kind of relationship that the one praying has with God. The petitions seek to have God’s name sanctified, his kingdom come, daily bread, forgiveness of sins, and protection from the final test. Jews would use these same petitions in their prayer— but always in the future tense. Here in Greek, the tense of the verbs is always aorist imperative. These petitions are actually demands being made on God. That is a very bold way to prayer, one with which many Jews would not be comfortable. This is to be the disciples’ identity: extremely bold in prayer. What many hope for in the future, we want in the here and now.

Perseverance in prayer: Luke follows up the Lord’s Prayer with a somewhat humorous story about perseverance. The person in the story got what he wanted because he pestered his neighbor until he gave in. In the beginning, that is the way and attitude people new to prayer need to assume. The one praying should not get discouraged if prayers seem to go unanswered. Stay with it; in the end, persistence will win out. Of course, there is more to it than this, but for beginners this is how one starts.

Excerpts from “Sunday Homily Helps”, is used by permission of Franciscan Media. www.FranciscanMedia.org. All rights reserved

 Sincerely in Christ,

Fr. Aloysius