The first reading introduces us to Abraham as he intercedes
with God for the city of Sodom and Gomorrah. What strikes us immediately is the
tone of the conversation between Abraham and God. It certainly implies a
relationship. Firstly, we see Abraham pleading not for himself but for the
needs of others. Secondly, what comes across through the reading is the belief
that good people matter and have a tremendous influence on others. Thirdly, we
see that Abraham perseveres in his pleading with the Lord. The point of the
passage is not that prayer changes God but rather that prayer gives us a share
in His power and definitely, that prayer changes us so that we can accept
whatever is God's will for us.
Prayer -Sharing in God's Power
Jim Johnson was given the job of saving a failing hotel. Other managers had
tried, but unsuccessfully. The hotel was in a now-or-never situation. Jim
decided to try something different. Each night he drove to the top of a hill
overlooking the hotel and the city. He parked his car and sat there for the
next 20 minutes praying. Jim prayed for the hotel guests, relaxing behind the
lighted windows. He prayed for the hotel employees and for their families. He
prayed for the people, who did business with the hotel. Finally, he prayed for
the city and its people. Night after night, Jim drove to the top of the hill,
parked his car and prayed the same prayer. Soon the situation at the hotel
started to improve. A new confidence radiated from its employees. A new warmth
welcomed and greeted each new guest. A new spirit permeated its operation. The
hotel experienced a remarkable rebirth thanks to the nightly prayer of Jim
Johnson.
Norman Vincent Peale
The Gospel of today has three sections, all dealing with prayer. While the
first part deals with the prayer 'The Our Father', the other two sections
illustrate the attitude and dispositions for prayer. The model prayer of Jesus
starts with calling God 'Father', which was something unique that Jesus could
say and which we have the privilege to say in and through Jesus. Our prayer
becomes like Jesus' when we can call God our 'Abba', 'Papa', 'Dada', 'Pai', the
term of endearment that we use at home. Next, the model prayer reminds us of
what should be our priorities. Too often our prayer is individualistic, focused
on 'I', 'myself'. In stead the 'Our Father' starts with focusing on God:
"Holy be Your Name, Your Kingdom come!"
The perfect form of prayer is praise, and working for the His Kingdom every
day. In the second part Jesus turns to asking for human needs and here too the
sequence is noteworthy. It starts with, "Give us this day our daily
bread." We ask not only for ourselves but for others as well. For
the Israelites, the bread given by Yahweh was never eaten alone but always in
community, food was for sharing. We ask for 'daily bread' not all the quota for
a life time! Our asking every day keeps us humble enough to realize we cannot
manage by ourselves and we need God every day of our life. The daily bread
implied not only the physical food we need but also the spiritual nourishment
provided by prayer. The last part of the 'Our Father' reminds us that just as
we need physical and spiritual nourishment we also need God's mercy and
forgiveness, because, in spite of our best intentions and promises, we falter
often in life. 'Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass
against us', reminds us that we show our own acceptance of God's forgiveness
when we forgive others. The final petition, 'Do not bring us to the test but
deliver us from all evil', does not imply that God tempts us rather we
are asking not to be tested beyond our limit. Saints are not those who are
never tempted but who in spite of temptations found their strength in God.
I was waiting for you to call on me!
The boy walked along the ocean shore trying not to stray. He looked up to his
father saying, "Dad, I want to play." His father looked upon him,
with love showing in his eyes. "Do what you want to, my son but do not
leave my side." "I would never leave you Daddy, I love you way too
much." But the boy took a step away, out of his father's range of touch.
He walked through the surf, the waves tickling one toe. "If I take one
more step in" he thought, "Father will never know." His father
called out to him, "Son, remain close to me!" The boy thought
"At the moment I don't need you!" His father felt sadness, but he
held his tongue. The boy stepped out a little further . . . the water covering
his waist. His father spoke with urgency "My son, come back to me,"
he said, "The day is almost done!" "Not yet, Dad," the boy
yelled, "I'm having fun!" The boy did not have his father's insight
so he could not yet tell, the tide was coming in so fast there would be
no time to yell. "Father!" he tried to scream, as the water
covered his head. "I need you now, Daddy!" was what the boy had said.
And in a single instant his father was by his side. "I thought you left
me, Daddy, I thought you went to hide." The father looked upon his son . .
. a tear streaming down his cheek. The boy looked upon his father and cried the
sobs of the meek. "I would never leave you son, for I love you just the
same." "I was only waiting for you to call upon my name."
Author Unknown.
Bargaining with God
Some years ago a young man in his early thirties found himself bargaining with
God. He was a fairly well to do banker whose values were admittedly centered in
the goods of this world. He had two children and a wife and he felt that life
was good and that all things were going as he had always hoped they might. Then
everything changed in a split second when a large truck ran a stop sign and hit
his car broadside. He was grateful that he had been alone in his car, but on
the way to the hospital in a speeding ambulance he knew his life was ebbing
away. "I made a bargain with God," he said, "I promised that if
I was allowed to survive this accident so that I could be there to raise my son
and daughter, I would faithfully serve God in the church for the rest of my
life." To this point, he had not been a churchgoing person. I met Douglas
years after the accident and it was during a church retreat that he told me
about his bargain with God. "I kept my end of the bargain just as
God did," he said. And it was clear that Douglas had made a complete turn around
in his life and values after his promise to God. -Was God swayed by Douglas'
offer to turn his life around? Did God change the outcome of this young man's
life because of his bargaining? Though we may not understand fully how our
pleading with God in difficult times works in detail, we can always trust that
the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting.
Prince Rainy Rivers in 'Text this Week'
What is Prayer?! -Secret of Powerful Praying
Warren Wiersbe tells of the time when he was helping to
paint the outside of his neighbors' home. His neighbors had a small black dog
that had a ritual of going to the back door of the house to bark and bark until
someone finally got the message and let him out. One day, Wiersbe was painting
the outside of the house when no one was home. The neighbor's little dog, who
was inside the house, took up his station at the back door and barked and
barked all day long. The sad thing, Wiersbe said, was that it never dawned in
his little brain that all his barking was totally useless -no one was home to
hear!! Perhaps many of you feel like that dog. You have prayed and prayed for
something and there seems to be no answer-there seems to be no one at home! And
maybe you have this nagging wonder why your prayers are going unanswered!
-Prayer is one of the most misunderstood and misused practices of our faith.
And like the black dog mentioned earlier, until we understand the nature
of prayer and how God answers prayer, all of our barking and praying for an
answer will leave us frustrated. The truth is, our wondering about unanswered
prayer is often about a misunderstanding of what prayer is. There is an old
story of a monk who was bothered by mice playing around him when he prayed. To
stop it, he got a cat and kept it in his prayer room so the mice would be
scared away. But he never explained to his disciples why he had the cat. So,
one day, the monk walked down the corridors of the monastery and noticed that
each of his disciples had a cat in their prayer room. After seeing the monk
with a cat, they thought having a cat was the secret to powerful praying. I
believe this is a parable for many Christians today. Many believe they have to
do something special in order for God to hear them and have their prayers answered.
So, you will often see folks running here and there to learn the latest prayer
gimmick from self-proclaimed spiritual gurus.
Charles Reeb in 'Text This Week'
Pray as you are
A little shepherd boy was watching his sheep one Sunday morning, when he heard
the Church bells ringing and people walking along the lane next to the pasture
going to Church. He began to think that he too would like to communicate with
God. "But what can I say?" he thought. He had never learned a prayer.
So, on bended knees, he began to recite the alphabets-a, b, c, d, and so on to
z, repeating his 'prayer' several times. A man passing by heard the boy's
voice, and stopping to look through the bushes, saw the child kneeling with
folded hands and closed eyes saying, a, b, c, ...k, l, m, " He interrupted
the boy, asking, "What are you doing, my little friend?" The boy
replied, "I was praying sir," Surprised, the man said, "But why
are you reciting the alphabet?" The boy explained, "I don't know any
prayer sir. But I want God to take care of me and help me to take care of my
sheep. So I thought if I said, all I knew, He could put the letters together
and spell all that I wanted to say and should say." The man smiled
and said, "Bless your heart. You are right, God will!" then he went
to church knowing he had already heard the finest sermon he could possibly hear
that day.
John Rose in 'John's Sunday Homilies'
God always wants to communicate with us. May we in our own way commune with
him.
Fr. Jude Botelho:
There are several insights about prayer in the first reading
where Abraham intercedes with God for Sodom and Gomorrah. Firstly, Abraham
pleads not for himself but for the needs of others. Secondly, what comes across
is the belief that good people matter and have a tremendous influence on
others. Thirdly, we see in Abraham a man who does not give up, he perseveres in
his pleading with the Lord. It would appear at first glance that Abraham is
bargaining with the Lord. But he is not asking something for himself nor is he
offering to do something in return. The point of the passage is not that prayer
changes God but that it changes us so that we can accept whatever is God’s will
for us.
Prayer: A Share in God's Power
Jim was given the job of saving a failing hotel. Other
managers had tried, but failed. Jim decided to try something different. Each
night he drove to the top of a hill overlooking the hotel, parked his car and
sat there for 20 minutes praying. Jim prayed for the hotel guests and the hotel
employees. He prayed for the people, who did business with the hotel. Finally,
he prayed for the city and its people. Night after night, Jim drove to the top
of the hill he parked his car and prayed the same prayer. Soon the situation at
the hotel started to improve. Confidence radiated from its employees and new
warmth welcomed and greeted each guest. A new spirit permeated its operation.
The hotel experienced a remarkable rebirth. I credit the hotel's re-birth to
the nightly prayer of Jim Johnson.
Norman Vincent Peale
The Gospel of today has three sections, all dealing
with prayer. While the first part deals with the prayer that Jesus taught his
disciples, ‘The Our Father’, the other two sections go on to illustrate the
attitude and dispositions for prayer. The ‘Our Father’ is considered the
perfect prayer and despite its brevity has been called by Tertullian, a
‘summary of the whole Gospel.’ In it we are shown not only the things we can
rightly desire and pray for but also the sequence in which they should be
desired. It is the model of all prayer. The prayer of Jesus starts with calling
God ‘Father’, which was something unique that Jesus could say and which we have
the privilege to say in and through Jesus. Our prayer becomes like Jesus’ when
we can with faith call God our Father, our ‘Abba’, ‘Papa’, ‘Dada’, the term of
endearment that we use at home. Next, the model prayer reminds us of what
should be our priorities. The perfect form of prayer is praise, acknowledging
God and working for the spreading of His Kingdom. It is only in the second part
that the model prayer of Jesus turns to asking for human needs. The daily bread
implied not only the physical food we need but also the nourishment provided by
prayer, the Word of God and the Eucharist. The last part of the ‘Our Father’
reminds us that just as we need physical and spiritual nourishment we also need
God’s mercy and forgiveness, because, in spite of our best intentions and
promises, we falter and fail often in life.
I was waiting for you to call on me!
The boy walked along the ocean shore... trying not to
stray. He looked up to his father saying, "Dad, I want to play." His
father looked at him and said "Do what you want to, my son... but do not
leave my side." But the boy took a step away, out of his father's range of
touch. He walked through the surf, the waves tickling one toe. "If I take
one more step in..." he thought, "Father will never know." His
father called out to him, "Son, remain close to me!" The boy thought...
"At the moment I don't need you!" His father felt a sadness, but he
held his tongue. The boy stepped out a little further... the water covering his
waist. His father spoke with urgency... "My son, come back to me," he
said, "The day is almost done!" "Not yet, Dad," the boy
yelled, "I'm having fun!" The boy did not have his father's
insight... so he could not yet tell, the tide was coming in fast... there would
be no time to yell. "Father!" he tried to scream, as the water
covered his head. "I need you now, Daddy!" was what the boy had said.
And in a single instant his father was by his side. "I thought you left
me, Daddy... I thought you went to hide." The father looked upon his
son... a tear streaming down his cheek. The boy looked upon his father... and
cried the sobs of the meek. "I would never leave you son... for I love you
just the same." "I was only waiting... for you to call upon my
name."
Author Unknown
Bargaining with God
Some years ago a young man in his early thirties found
himself bargaining with God. He was a fairly well to do banker whose values
were centered in the goods of this world. He had two children and a wife and he
felt that life was good and that all things were going as he had always hoped
they might. Then everything changed in a split second when a large truck ran a
stop sign and hit his car broadside. He was grateful that he had been alone in
his car, but on the way to the hospital in a speeding ambulance he knew his
life was ebbing away. "I made a bargain with God," he said, "I
promised that if I was allowed to survive this accident so that I could be
there to raise my son and daughter, I would faithfully serve God in the church
for the rest of my life." To this point, he had not been a churchgoing
person. I met Douglas years after the accident and it was during a church
retreat that he told me about his bargain with God. "I kept my end of the
bargain just as God did," he said. And it was clear that Douglas had made
a complete turn around in his life and values after his promise to God. -Was
God swayed by Douglas' offer to turn his life around? Though we may not
understand fully how our pleading with God in difficult times works, we can
always trust that the steadfast love of the Lord is everlasting.
Prince Rainy Rivers in 'Text this week'
What is Prayer?
Warren Wiersbe tells of the time when he was helping
to paint the outside of his neighbour’s home. His neighbours had a small black
dog that had a ritual of going to the back door of the house to bark and bark
until someone finally got the message and let him out. One day, Wiersbe was
painting the outside of the house when no one was home. The neighbor's little
dog, who was inside the house, took up his station at the back door and barked
and barked all day long. The sad thing, Wiersbe said, was that it never dawned
that all his barking was totally useless -no one was at home to hear!! Perhaps
many of you feel like that dog. You have prayed and prayed for something and
there seems to be no answer-there seems to be no one at home! And maybe you
have this nagging wonder why your prayers are going unanswered! -Prayer is one
of the most misunderstood and misused practices of our faith. And like the
black dog mentioned earlier, until we understand the nature of prayer and how
God answers prayers, all our barking and praying for an answer will leave us
frustrated. The truth is, our wondering about unanswered prayer is often about
a misunderstanding of what prayer is. There is an old story of a monk who was
bothered by mice playing around him when he prayed. To stop it, he got a cat
and kept it in his prayer room so the mice would be scared away. But he never
explained to his disciples why he had the cat. So, one day, the monk walked
down the corridors of the monastery and noticed that each of his disciples had
a cat in their prayer room. After seeing the monk with a cat, they thought
having a cat was the secret to powerful praying. I believe this is a parable
for many Christians today. Many believe they have to do something special in
order for God to hear them and have their prayers answered. So, you will often
see folks running here and there to learn the latest prayer gimmick from
self-proclaimed spiritual gurus.
Rev. Charles Reeb in ‘Text This Week’
****
ILLUSTRATIONS:
1. Daddy on a vacation:
Once upon a time there was a daddy who had made a lot of
money in the stock market (he had also made a lot of money in the commodity
markets too). For every dollar he had invested in 1994, he now had ten dollars.
Starting with a rather modest amount of money, he had become a millionaire.
However, he as not the kind of person who could make his investments and stick
with them because he knew that in the long run they would continue to grow.
Quite the contrary, he was a real investor, that is to say, he bought and sold
stocks almost every day to make money even more rapidly than did the ordinary
investor who left it to his brokers and advisers to watch the daily
opportunities. Our hero earned his living – and it was a good one – in other
areas.
However, he became obsessed with the daily
fluctuations in the market. He exulted when his holdings went up, and grew
depressed when they went down. He called up the DJA on his computer several
times every day and then explored his portfolio in detail. WELL, he went on
vacation with his family and of course brought his laptop along. It happened to
be one of those times when the DJA rose and fell like the tides. So he spent
most of his daylight hours on his laptop.
As a result he wasted his vacation, even though the
weather was beautiful every day, the lake was warm, the winds were light, and
everyone else in his family had a wonderful time. (Andrew Greeley)
-----------------
2. How do we pray?
Some years ago, when Leonard Griffith was pastor of the
famous City Temple in London, he wrote a fascinating book entitled Barriers to
Christian Belief. In that book he dealt with some problems that have over the
years been real obstacles and stumbling blocks for people in their faith
pilgrimage specific problems that hinder people, that burden people, that
disturb people and keep them away from the Christian faith. One of the barriers
he listed was "unanswered prayer." It does seem to be a fact of our
experience that many people do get discouraged and they do give up and drop out
on the faith because they feel a sense of failure in their prayer life.
This leads us to ask then, "How do you pray?"
"Why pray at all?" "When do you pray?" "Is there a
special formula or a sacred language that should be used?" One thing is
clear. There are many questions and there is much misunderstanding about how
you pray and why. In a Peanuts cartoon Charlie Brown is kneeling beside his bed
for prayer. Suddenly he stops and says to Lucy, "I think I've made a new
theological discovery, a real breakthrough. If you hold your hands upside down,
you get the opposite of what you pray for."
Prayer must be more than an emergency magical lamp rubbed in
a crisis. The truth is that many people give up on prayer because they never understand
what prayer is. Much that passes for prayer is irrational, superstitious, and
self-centered, and is therefore unworthy of the pattern of the prayer that
Jesus offered to us his disciples.
How do you pray and why? We are not the first to ask. The disciples of Jesus
came to Him one day and said, "Lord, teach us. Teach us to pray!"
Notice something here. When did the disciples ask for this? When did they make
this request? Was it after Jesus gave a lecture on prayer? No! Was it after Jesus
led a seminar on prayer? No! Was it after Jesus preached a powerful sermon on
prayer? No! None of these. Remember how it is recorded in Luke 11…
"Jesus was praying in a certain place and when he finished, they said to
him, “Lord, teach us to pray.'" They saw the power of prayer in Him. They
saw how important prayer was to Him. See the point. Harry Emerson Fosdick
stresses it in his book, The Secret of Victorious Living. "Note that this
awakened interest in prayer came not at all from new arguments about it, but from
a new exhibition of its power. Here, before their very eyes, they saw a
personality in whom prayer was vital and influential! The more they lived with
him, the more they saw that they could never explain him or understand him
unless they understood his praying and so not at all because of new arguments,
but because of amazing spiritual power released in him by prayer. They wanted
him to tell them how to pray."
The disciples sometimes were slow on the uptake, but at this point they were
quickly and precisely on target. They saw in Jesus the answer to this question:
how do we pray and why do we pray? And they learned from Him (as we can) what
the elements are that lead to a meaningful prayer life.
- Jesus
Prayed Regularly.
- Jesus
Prayed Sensibly.
- Jesus
Prayed Confidently.
James W. Moore, Encounters With Christ, www.eSermons.com
--------------
What you do is your history. What you set in motion is your
legacy." Are you just pouring concrete or building a skyscraper?
Every one of us wants to leave a "legacy."
Something that outlasts our biological lives and can somehow continue to
declare "I was here." For a very few this is achieved through
intellect or infamy, greatness or great sacrifice. But for those of us who know
we are not Augustine or Martin Luther, or Christopher Columbus or George
Washington or Albert Einstein or Martin Luther King, Jr. - we still have a
gateway to a large-than-life memory. What is it?
3. Our story.
Our family. Our siblings. Our spouses. Our children.
Our great-grandchildren. Our "story," our life goes on, because we
are remembered and recounted in the memories, in the roots, branches and
leaves, of our family tree.
In this week's gospel text we are taught the "Lord's
Prayer," or more precisely, the "Disciples' Prayer." This prayer
is the distinguishing, identifying marker for those who follow Jesus. It is the
disciple's singular prayer, given direct to us from Jesus. Although Jesus spent
a great deal of his life praying, we only have two prayers from him. This is
one of them.
We now have over two thousand years of remarkable prayers
offered by remarkable followers of Jesus, but every one of them only shines a
new light on the clarity of this first vision.
For the first disciples, their first prayer, their first
focus, was unwavering. Their appeal was direct and was to Jesus. The response
they received was direct and was from Jesus...
----------------------
4. If you've listened to fairy
tales, or if you've watched early classic Disney cartoons, one
thing becomes unsettlingly clear: a lot of "poor little" princes and
princesses shared a common family tragedy. In an overwhelming number of these
stories the mothers were gone, dying long before the child in question could be
influenced by them or even remember them. The single dads in these tales almost
always had dreadful taste in women the second time around — bringing a whole
host of evil stepmothers onto the fairy tale scene.
Sadly, until later in the twentieth century, the chances of
children losing their mothers and being raised by stepmothers was common. The
overwhelming threat to a woman's life was childbirth, especially if any sort of
infection set in after delivery. For example, John Milton's first 2 wives, Mary
Powell and Katherine Woodcock, both died in childbirth. Among upper middle
class in 17th century London, one mother died for every 40 births. By the early
decades of the 20th century, things hadn't changed much. In 1929, the wife of
the Prime Minister of England, Lucy Baldwin, pointed out that pregnant women
were as likely to die as soldiers had been in the trenches in the 1914-1918
war. When a woman gave birth, she said, it was just like "going into
battle – she never knows . . . whether she will come out of it alive or
not." (As quoted in A. Susan Williams, Ladies of Influence: Women of the
Elite in Interwar Britain [Allen Lane The Penguin Press, 2001]). The single
father raising motherless children was an all-to-common occurrence.
Single parent households are even more prevalent today, but
for different reasons. Most single parents raising children on their own today
are women. Medical advances have made childbirth safer, and have raised women's
life expectancy above that of men. But good hygiene and antibiotics haven't
helped keep families together. In any given American classroom a conservative
estimate finds at least one-third of those kids living in a home without a
father. Whether by death or divorce, choice or chance, more and more children
are growing up in a home that has no consistently present father figure.
Along with the abuse of sheer absence, which is bad enough,
there is the worse abuse of presence. Although child abuse is not confined to
one gender, an abusive father figure has a huge affect on children. And a
father who is "occasional" as well as "abusive" magnifies
all the negatives of his influence.
Why is the lack of positive father figures such a critical
issue for the Church?
Consider this: the prayer Jesus gave to his disciples, the
prayer we are all taught as children, begins with the audaciously familiar
"Our Father." What happens to our images of God when our images of
"our fathers" are so tattered and torn?...
5. Keeping God Alive
in Our Hearts
Jesus prayed: forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass
against us. In the novel "The Great Hunger," a newcomer comes to a
farm community. He refuses all friendship with his neighbors and puts out the
no trespassing sign. One day a little child from the town climbs underneath his
fence to pet his dog. The vicious animal leaps on her and kills
her.
Hostility spreads throughout the community. When the
newcomer comes to town no one will speak to him. Clerks refuse to wait on him.
Spring comes and the merchants refuse to sell him seed. Finally, the father of
the girl who was killed comes over and sows his field. This act of kindness is
too much for the insufferable newcomer. "Why-you of all people?" he
asks. The father responds: To keep God alive in my heart.
The experience of forgiveness is basic to our spiritual
health. It is the way that we keep God alive in our hearts. But there is more.
The petition says: Forgive us as we forgive others. In other words, we are asking
God to forgive in proportion to our forgiving. We become our own judge and
jury.
How do we forgive the unforgivable? By remembering that God
forgives us for our sins against him.
Staff, www.Sermons.com
___________________
6. God Changes Us
A mother sent her fifth grade boy up to bed. In a few
minutes she went to make sure that he was getting in bed. When she stuck her
head into his room, she saw that he was kneeling beside his bed in prayer.
Pausing to listen to his prayers, she heard her son praying over and over
again. "Let it be Tokyo! Please dear God, let it be Tokyo!"
When he finished his prayers, she asked him, "What did
you mean, 'Let it be Tokyo'?"
"Oh," the boy said with embarrassment, "we
had our geography exam today and I was praying that God would make Tokyo the
capital of France."
Prayer is not a magical means by which we get God to do what
we want. Prayer is an inner openness to God which allows his divine power to be
released in us. Ultimately, the power of prayer is not that we succeed in
changing God, but that God succeeds in changing us.
Robert L. Allen, Greatest Passages of The Bible, CSS
Publishing Company
_____________________________________
7. Active Prayer
God is not passive, and neither are we. In fact, Jesus calls
us to an active life. We tend to think of prayer as a passive affair, which in
many ways it is. After all, prayer is listening before it is speaking. However,
it is active listening. You know the difference between passive and active
listening? Passive listening is the husband who has one ear to the television
when his wife speaks. Passive listening is the wife who has her "to
do" list between her and her spouse. Passive listening is the young person
who hears everything through ears that are "bored" with anything and
everything that isn't more exciting than what is possible.
Active listening, on the other hand, is giving 100%
attention, and facing toward the One who speaks, putting aside remote-controls,
"to do" lists, and boredom. Active listening is anything but passive.
It's really hard work, when you think about it. It's not "zoning
out." Far from it. Prayer is, in part, active listening. How do you
receive daily bread from God, if you're not faced in his direction, attentively
reaching out? How does forgiveness become a reality if we don't step into it -
and how are we to step into it if we're not walking in the direction of, toward
the One from whom forgiveness flows? The Lord's prayer, whether it be the
version Matthew remembers, or the one Luke recalls, encourages active movement
toward God on our part.
Peter L. Haynes, Asking...Seeking...Knocking
_____________________________________________
8. Prayer to the Outside
Observer
Father Barry Foster, a priest in Dublin, Ireland, parked his
car on a rather steep slope close to his church. His little cairn terrier was
lying on the rear seat and could not be seen by anyone outside the vehicle.
Father Foster got out of the car and turned to lock the door with his usual
parting command to the dog. "Stay!" he ordered loudly, to an
apparently empty car. "Stay!" An elderly man was watching the
performance with amused interest. Grinning, he suggested, "Why don't you
just try putting on the emergency brake?"
Our subject today is prayer. To the mind of the unbeliever,
watching someone pray is the equal of watching someone say "Stay," to
their automobile fully expecting it to obey. To the unbeliever prayer is an
exercise in futility. But to the believer, prayer is the most powerful and the
most reliable force in the world today.
King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
________________________________
9. Henri Nouwen
Through prayer we can carry in our heart all human pain and
sorrow, all conflicts and agonies, all torture and war, all hunger, loneliness
and misery, not because of some great psychological or emotional capacity, but
because God's heart has become one with ours.
__________________
10. Always Say a Prayer Ever wonder
about the acronym ASAP? Generally we think of it in terms of even more hurry
and stress in our lives: "As soon as possible." Maybe if we think of
this abbreviation in a different manner, we'll begin to find a new way to deal
with those rough days along the way.
There's work to do, deadlines to meet, you've got no time to
spare, But as you hurry and scurry, ASAP: Always Say a Prayer. In the midst of
family chaos, quality time is rare. Do your best; let God do the rest, ASAP:
Always Say a Prayer. It may seem like your worries are more than you can bear.
Slow down and take a breather, ASAP: Always Say a Prayer. God knows how
stressful life is; he wants to ease our cares, And he'll respond to all your
needs, ASAP: Always Say a Prayer.
Leonard Sweet, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
__________________________________________
11. The Perfect Prayer
The Lord's Prayer is the most perfect of prayers... In it we
ask, not only for all the things we can rightly desire, but also in the
sequence that they should be desired. This prayer not only teaches us to ask
for things, but also in what order we should desire them.
St. Thomas Aquinas, as quoted in Catechism of the Catholic
Church, 2763
_________________________
12. Prayer and Forgiveness
We cannot come to God in honest prayer when we have not
forgiven one another transgressions: A young boy saw a pack of cigarettes on
the ground and decided to try them. He went to a field near his home and, after
several fumbling attempts, got one to light up. It didn't taste good; indeed,
it burned his throat and made him cough. But it made him feel very grown up.
Then he saw his father coming. Quickly he put the cigarette
behind his back and tried to be casual. Desperate to divert his father's
attention. The young Boy pointed to a nearby billboard advertising the circus.
"Can we go, Dad? Please, let's go when it comes to town."
The father quietly but firmly replied, "Son, never make a petition while
at the same time trying to hide a smoldering disobedience."
Unknown
__________________
13. We Do Not Want God
On a subway platform in one of our Eastern states there was
a large printed sign that said "God Answers Prayer." Some experienced
person had scrawled across the bottom underneath the printed letters these
words: "Sometimes the answer is NO!" This is what we have to deal
with in any discussion of prayer.
Someone says, "I felt the need of God. I prayed for
something to happen, and it didn't. Prayer failed." No, Sir. I suggest
that you did not want God - you wanted God to do something, and that's
different.
You have missed the purpose of prayer...
-----------
14. Abraham in Prayer:
|
***********************
From Father Tony Kadavil’s Collection:
1. "Why don't you just
try putting on the emergency brake?"
Father Barry Foster, a priest in Dublin, Ireland, parked his
car on a rather steep slope close to his church. His little dog was lying on
the rear seat and could not be seen by anyone outside the vehicle. Father
Foster got out of the car and turned to lock the door with his usual parting
command to the dog. "Stay!" he ordered loudly, to an apparently empty
car. "Stay!" An elderly man was watching the performance with amused
interest. Grinning, he suggested, "Why don't you just try putting on the
emergency brake?" [Colin Jeffery, Catholic Digest (May 1992), p. 72.] The
theme of today’s gospel is prayer and model prayer. To the unbeliever prayer is
an exercise in futility like ordering an automobile, "Stay," fully
expecting it to obey. But to the believer, prayer is the most powerful and the
most reliable force in the world today because through prayer, we communicate
with God.
--------------------------
2. “Never give
up!"
Years ago in Illinois, a young man with six months schooling
to his credit ran for an office in the legislature when he was 23 and was
beaten. Next he entered business with a partner but failed in that too, and
spent the next seventeen years paying the debts of his worthless partner. He
fell in love with a charming lady and they became engaged, but she died. The
next year he had a nervous breakdown. Relying on the power of prayer, he ran
for the post of Speaker (at 29), of Elector (at 31) and for a seat in Congress
(at 34). He was defeated each time. He then tried to obtain an
appointment to the U.S. Land Office, but didn’t succeed. He became a candidate
for the Vice-Presidency and lost. Two years later he was defeated in an
election to the Senate (at 46). He ran for office once more and was elected the
sixteenth President of the United States in 1860 when he was 51. That man was
Abraham Lincoln who put his trust in the power of persistent prayer coupled
with never-fading faith in God’s goodness. It took Winston Churchill
three years to get through the eighth grade, because he couldn’t pass English!
Ironically, he was asked many years later to give the commencement
address at Oxford University. His famous speech consisted of only three words:
“Never give up!" In today’s gospel after teaching the Lord’s
Prayer, Jesus instructs us that we should never give up in our prayer
life.
--------------------------------
3. “Don’t bother me.”
We do not pray in the Lord’s Prayer "Give me this day
what I want." We pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” We are created
for community. Hunger kills somebody in the world every 3.6 seconds. 10.5% of
all U. S. households are food-insecure. 800 million people in the world are
malnourished. It would take 13 billion dollars a year to end hunger. At the
same time the U.S. and Europe spend 18 billion dollars a year on pet food.
There is a knock on our door in the midnight hour. Like the neighbor in the scriptures
we are prone to say, “Don’t bother me.”
*****
From Fr. Tony Kadavil's Collection
1: “Never give up!” Years ago, in
Illinois, a young man with six months schooling and self-education competed in
the state and national elections nine times and was defeated six times. First,
he ran for an office in the legislature when he was 23
and was beaten. Next, he entered business with a partner
but failed in that too and spent the next seventeen years paying the debts of
his worthless partner. He fell in love with a charming lady and they became
engaged, but she died. The next year he had a nervous breakdown. Relying on the
power of prayer, he ran for the post of Speaker (at 29),
of Elector (at 31) and for a seat in Congress (at
34). He was defeated each time. He then tried to obtain an
appointment to the U.S. Land Office as commissioner but didn’t
succeed. He became a candidate for the Vice-Presidency and
lost. Two years later he was defeated in an election to the Senate (at
46). He ran for office once more and was elected the sixteenth
President of the United States in 1860 when he was 51. That man
was Abraham Lincoln who put his trust in the power of
persistent prayer coupled with never-fading Faith in God’s goodness. It
took Winston Churchill three years to get through the eighth grade, because he
couldn’t pass English! Ironically, he was asked many years later to give
the commencement address at Oxford University. His famous speech consisted of
only three words: “Never give up!” In today’s Gospel, after
teaching the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus instructs us that we should never give up in
our prayer life.
2: “Dear God, if you ever want to see your mother
again.” In his book, Moments for Mothers (New
Leaf Press: 1996), Robert Strand relates the story of a young boy named
Benjamin who wrote a prayer-letter to God to ask for a baby sister. “Dear God,
I’ve been a very good boy. . .” and then stopped, thinking that God might not
be convinced by his claim. Taking a new sheet of paper, he began again, “Dear
God, most of the time, I’ve been good. . .” Again, he stopped,
dissatisfied that his plea was not sufficiently moving. After a few thoughtful
moments, the young boy got a towel from the linen closet and laid it carefully
on a chair in the living room. Then he went to the mantle over the fireplace
and very slowly lifted down the statue of Mary. He had often seen his mother
carefully dust the statue and knew it to be a special family heirloom. Very gently,
Benjamin placed the Madonna in the middle of the towel, carefully folding over
the edges. Then, after he secured the towel with rubber bands, he carried his
parcel back to his desk, took another piece of paper and made his third attempt
at a letter. . . “Dear God, if you ever want to see your mother again. . .”
Strand entitled his amusing story “Irreverent Manipulation”; however, given
today’s readings from Genesis and Luke, it is feasible that Benjamin was being
neither irreverent nor manipulative. Perhaps his child’s heart already knew
that he could be bold and daring in his prayer because he knew himself to be
loved by a bold and daring God. (Patricia Datchuck Sánchez)
3: “Why don’t you just try putting on the emergency
brake?” Father Barry Foster, a priest in Dublin, Ireland, parked
his car on a rather steep slope close to his church. His little dog was lying
on the rear seat and could not be seen by anyone outside the vehicle. Father
Foster got out of the car and turned to lock the door with his usual parting
command to the dog. “Stay!” he ordered loudly, to an apparently empty car.
“Stay!” An elderly man was watching the performance with amused interest.
Grinning, he suggested, “Why don’t you just try putting on the emergency
brake?” (Colin Jeffery, Catholic Digest, May 1992, p. 72). The
theme of today’s Gospel is prayer, and it offers a model prayer. To the
unbeliever, prayer is an exercise in futility like ordering “Stay,” to an
automobile fully expecting it to obey. But to the believer, prayer is the most
powerful and the most reliable force in the world today by which we communicate
with God.
4) ”God is not deaf but grandma is:” Two
young boys were spending the night at their rich grandma’s house during
Christmas. She was getting them ready for bed, and reminded them to say their
prayers. Grandma left the boys alone and went into the next room before coming
back to tuck them in. The older of the two said his prayers, thanking God and
asking Him to bless grandma, his friends and family. Then, it was his younger
brother’s turn. He offered the same prayer as his big brother, but at the end
of the prayer, he shouted in a very loud voice, “And God, please send me a new
scooter and a CD player.” His older brother turned and said, “You don’t have to
shout. God isn’t deaf.” “I know,” the younger one replied. “But Grandma is.”
5) Memory pills to remember the prayers. Two
elderly men were walking along the beach and their wives were walking behind
them. One man says, “Eddie, did you know I’ve been taking these new memory
pills to help me remember my prayers? They’re tremendous.” “I would
like to improve my memory too,” said the other man. “What are those pills
called?” The first man scratches his head, embarrassed because
he can’t remember the name of the memory pills. “Wait!” he exclaims. “Let me
ask my wife.” He thinks a moment and then says, “My God! I forgot her
name. It’s the same name as a flower with red petals, long green
stems and thorns.” “The rose?” Eddie guesses. “Yes, that’s her
name!” The first man replies, smiling brightly, as he turns
around to ask his wife. “Rose! What is the name of those memory pills I take?”
6) Liquor shop and the power of prayer: A
tale is told about a small town that had always been “dry.” One day,
however, a local businessman erected a tavern. A group of Christians from
a local Church were concerned and they convened an all-night prayer meeting to
ask God to intervene. It just so happened that shortly thereafter lightning
struck the tavern burning it down to the ground. The owner of the bar sued
the Church, claiming that the prayers of the congregation were responsible, but
the Church hired a lawyer to argue in court that they were not responsible. The
presiding judge, after his initial review of the case, stated, “No matter how
this case comes out, one thing is clear: the tavern owner believes in prayer
and the Christians do not.”
7) God’s laughter: How do you make God
laugh? Tell him your plans. Robert Frost: “Forgive, O Lord, my little jokes on
Thee, and I’ll forgive Thy great big joke on me.”
23 Additional anecdotes
1)” Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to
dinner?” At a small dinner party in the home of a member, a pastor was
invited to ask the blessing for the meal. Turning to the talkative six-year-old
in the house, the pastor suggested she might like to do the blessing instead.
The outgoing youngster now suddenly shy replied, “I wouldn’t know what to say!”
“Just say what you hear your Mommy say,” said the pastor assuredly. With that
the little girl folded her hands, bowed her head and said, “Lord, why on earth
did I invite all these people to dinner?”
2) “But I thank you anyway!”: In the movie, Shenandoah,
Jimmy Stewart plays a prosperous Quaker farmer during the Civil War. One night
at the supper table, this widower and hard worker lets his feelings show as he
asks the blessing. “Bless this food, Lord. I plowed the land, I planted the
seed, I irrigated the fields. I harvested the crops, I canned it, I cooked it
and I served it. It took a lot of work and I did it all. But I thank You anyway
because I promised my wife on her deathbed I would for the children’s sake.
Amen.”
3“Don’t bother me.” We do not pray in the Lord’s
Prayer, “give me this day what I want.” We pray,
“Give us this day our daily bread.” We are created
for community. Hunger kills somebody in the world every 3.6 seconds. 10.5% of
all U. S. households are food-insecure. 800 million people in the world are
malnourished. It would take 13 billion dollars a year to end hunger. The U.S.
and Europe spend 18 billion dollars a year on pet food. There is a knock on our
door in the midnight hour. Like the neighbor in the Scriptures we are prone to
say, “Don’t bother me.”
4) “Lead us not into temptation”: Americans have a
love affair with food. Statistics tell us Americans eat 75 acres of pizza, 53
million hotdogs, 167 million eggs, 3 million gallons of ice cream, and 3,000
tons of candy a day. An overweight businessman went on a diet. Among the first
things he decided to eliminate were the doughnuts he regularly brought to the
office. On the third day the executive carried in a sack of doughnuts. “What
happened?” inquired his assistant. “Well,” said the businessman, “I said to the
Lord on the way to work, ‘If You don’t want me to eat doughnuts don’t let there
be a parking place in front of the bakery.’ On the third trip around the block
I found a parking place right in front. That’s when I decided it was the Lord’s
will for me to have doughnuts today.”
5) Cardiologist, Dean Ornish, puts it this
way: “Our ‘eat more, weigh less’ nation is suffering from an epidemic of
spiritual heart disease. People turn to food, alcohol, and other destructive
habits out of loneliness and despair.” Bread for the body and food for the
soul: ask for it, seek for it, knock for it until the door opens to it. Give us
bread — DAY BY DAY. Give us this day our daily bread.
6) “The captain is my daddy.” A little boy was
standing on the banks of the Mississippi River waving and shouting at a
steamboat that was going by. He was beckoning the steamboat to come to shore. A
stranger came by and said, “That’s foolish young man. The boat will never come
ashore because of your request. The captain is too busy to notice your waving
and shouting.” Just then the boat turned and headed for shore. The little boy
grinned and said to the stranger, “The captain is my daddy.” The captain of the
universe is our Abba. He pays attention to our petitions because he loves us.
The first words in the Lord’s Prayer encourage us to believe in the
affectionate intimacy of the Lord of the universe, but that doesn’t mean we
should take God for granted.
7) A loving Heavenly Father: When Karl
Barth, retired and in his later years, visited an American theological school,
one of the students asked him, “How would you characterize your theology, Dr.
Barth?” Barth thought for a moment and said that his answer was a song he
learned at his mother’s knee: “Jesus loves me, this I know …” Isn’t that great!
A renowned theologian, no stranger to using all his mind as he dealt with the
meaning of the Gospel, wrapped it all up in a little Sunday school tune.
Alongside his wide-ranging academic theology, he had an everyday theology.
Jesus was a master of this theological style.
8) “Could You please just touch me?” A little
girl is kneeling beside her bed. She says, “Dear God, if You are there and You
hear my prayer, could You please just touch me?” Just then she feels a touch.
She gets so excited! She says, “Thank You, God, for touching me!” Then she
looks up, sees her older sister, and gets a little suspicious. “Did you touch
me?” The sister answers, “Yes, I did.” “What did you do that for?” she asked.
”God told me to,” was the reply. God touches our lives during our prayers.
9) Forgive us our trespasses: Edith
Bunker, on the television show All in the Family, described
the confessional boxes in the Catholic Church as “telephone booths to God.”
Well, they are not quite that. But every prayer must contain an element of
confession. We are not all God means for us to be. We are finite creatures in
every respect. We need His mercy, His compassion, His amazing grace. So, we
pray for forgiveness and sometimes we pray for the ability to forgive.
10) “Go back to your room”: A burst of thunder sent a
three-year old flying into her parent’s bedroom. “Mommy, I’m scared,” she said.
The mother, half-awake and half-unconscious, replied, “Go back to your room.
God will be there with you.” The small figure stood in the unlit doorway for a
moment and then said softly, “Mommy, I’ll sleep here with Daddy and you go in
there and sleep with God.”
11) Christy’s prayers of 29 years! The
story of Christie Borthwick’s dad vividly illustrates the need to persevere in
prayer. With the exception of the “Billy Graham Crusade moment,” he seldom
expressed spiritual interest. In fact, for years he aggressively resisted,
citing the hypocrisies of the Church and the hard-to-believe content of the
Bible. On one occasion, we talked through the “bad news” aspect of the Good
News—that people without Christ go to hell. He resisted this message so
strongly that he retorted, “If there is a God who allows people to go to Hell,
then I don’t want to go to Heaven to live with him. I choose Hell.” A few years
later, after the sudden death of Christie’s 47-year-old brother, her dad was
again belligerent. When we asked if he would like to receive God’s gift of
eternal life, he snapped, “Eternal life is a myth; there’s no Heaven or Hell.
Just put me in the grave. The grave is all there is.” Christie kept praying
tenaciously. We called friends and asked them to join us in prayer, and we
marshaled the prayers of more than 500 friends and associates using e-mail. Two
weeks later, her dad’s heart softened. He indicated an interest in a relationship
with God. We invited him to pray a simple prayer—”Jesus, have mercy”—and he
responded. For the first time in our lives we heard him pray, “Jesus, have
mercy on my soul.” His countenance changed. His striving was over. God had
finally answered Christie’s prayers of 29 years! Her dad died two weeks later.
(Christie and Paul Borthwick, “Don’t Give Up on Your Family,”
Discipleship Journal (Issue 126)
12) “Mom, can I have some chocolate chip cookies?”
Paul Harvey told about a 3-year-old boy who went to the grocery store with his
mother. Before they entered she had certain instructions for the little tyke:
“Now you’re not going to get any chocolate chip cookies, so don’t even ask.”
She put him in the child’s seat and off they went up and down the aisles. He
was doing just fine until they came to the cookie section. Seeing the chocolate
chip cookies he said, “Mom, can I have some chocolate chip cookies?” She said,
“I told you not even to ask. You’re not going to get any at all.” They
continued down the aisles, but in their search for certain items she had to
backtrack and they ended up in the cookie aisle again. “Mom, can I please have
some chocolate chip cookies?” She said, “I told you that you can’t have any.
Now sit down and be quiet.” Finally, they arrived at the checkout. The little
boy sensed that the end was in sight, that this might be his last chance. He
stood up on the seat and shouted in his loudest voice, “In the name of Jesus,
may I have some chocolate chip cookies?” Everyone in the checkout lanes laughed
and applauded. Do you think the little boy got his cookies? You bet! The other
shoppers moved by his daring pooled their resources. The little boy and his
mother left with 23 boxes of chocolate chip cookies. According to a Gallop
Poll, 87% of all Americans pray, 50% use prayer for petitions, and 70% claim
their prayers are answered. Although we are not allowed to pray in the
classroom in public schools, it is clear that Americans do manage to pray.
13) “My husband’s new hearing aid.” One post office
employee tells about an irate customer who stormed to her desk one day. “What’s
the trouble?” the postal employee responded in her calmest voice. “I went out
this morning,” the customer began angrily, “and when I came home I found a card
saying the mailman tried to deliver a package but no one was home. I’ll have
you know, my husband was in all morning! He never heard a thing!” After
apologizing, the postal employee got the woman’s parcel. “Oh good!” the woman
gushed. “We’ve been waiting for this for ages!” “What is it?” the postal worker
asked. The woman said with pride, “My husband’s new hearing aid.” Well, no
wonder! When we speak to one another, there are some people who can’t hear us,
others who don’t listen to us. But when we speak to God, we speak to One Who
hears all and listens to all.
14) Preaching on Our Father: What
will I do with a sermon on such a familiar text? I could take the easy way out
and do as a young man who had come to a monastery and asked for admission to
the order. He told the abbot that he would accept any task, no matter how
menial, if only he could be part of the religious life. He set only one
condition, that he not be required to preach. The abbot replied, “Obviously
this is the one area of your spiritual development that needs attention, so
tomorrow morning you will be our preacher!” The young monk-trainee was gripped
by fear when he approached the time to preach, but was seized by inspiration
and said to the gathered brethren, “Do you know what I’m going to preach about
this morning?” “No,” murmured the other monks. “Well, neither do I, so let’s go
right to the benediction!” The abbot was upset and determined that the young
novice preach, so he assigned him a second time. At the time of preaching, the
man again said, “Do you know today what I’m going to preach about?” Wishing to
help him along, the monks all nodded, “Yes.” He said, “Then if you know what
I’m going to preach about, there’s no need to hear it again. Let’s go right to
the benediction!” Now the abbot was furious, and he instructed the novice to
try again the third time. At the third encounter the young monk said again,
“Today do you know what I’m going to preach about?” The other monks were
confused. Some said “yes,” and some said “no;” at which point the novice declared
“Well, then those who know what I’m going to preach about turn to the ones who
don’t know what I’m going to preach about, and you tell them what it is. Let’s
go to the benediction!” (Reverend William G. Stell, “Perfect Love” Preached at
St. Luke’s U.M.C. in Houston, Texas.) So, let us continue the Mass, because you
know the text, and you’ve reflected on the prayer.
15) Keep your prayers in the proper
perspective: The following lines should help us keep our prayers in
the proper perspective:
I asked God for strength that I might achieve; I was made
weak that I might learn humbly to obey.
I asked for health that I might do great things; I was given
infirmity that I might do better things.
I asked for riches that I might be happy; I was given
poverty that I might be wise.
I asked for all things that I might enjoy life; I was given
life that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing that I asked for but everything I had hoped
for; despite myself, my prayers were answered.
I am, among all people, most richly blessed.
16) Prayer—Sharing in God’s Power: Jim
Johnson was given the job of saving a failing hotel. Other managers had tried,
but unsuccessfully. The hotel was in a now-or-never situation. Jim decided to
try something different. Each night he drove to the top of a hill overlooking
the hotel and the city. He parked his car and sat there for the next 20 minutes
praying. Jim prayed for the hotel guests, relaxing behind the lighted windows.
He prayed for the hotel employees and for their families. He prayed for the
people, who did business with the hotel. Finally, he prayed for the city and
its people. Night after night, Jim drove to the top of the hill, parked his car
and prayed the same prayer. Soon the situation at the hotel started to improve.
A new confidence radiated from its employees. A new warmth welcomed and greeted
each new guest. A new spirit permeated its operation. The hotel experienced a
remarkable rebirth thanks to the nightly prayer of Jim Johnson. (Norman
Vincent Peale)
17) Leo Tolstoy’s “God Sees the Truth, But
Waits” is a parable of forgiveness. Ivan Demetrievich Aksenov
was a merchant living in the town of Vladimir. One day he planned to go to a
fair as a business venture, but his wife pleaded for him not to go because of a
nightmare she had the previous night. She said that all his hair had gone gray
when he returned from the fair. Aksenov ignored his wife’s dream and left for
the fair. Aksenov met another merchant on his way, and the two decided to
travel together. They checked into an inn and retired separately. Aksenov woke
early the next morning to get to the fair and left without the other merchant.
Not far down the road, Aksenov was stopped by the police. They explained that a
merchant was just murdered and robbed in the town, and they searched Aksenov’s
bag. They found a bloody knife, and despite Aksenov’s claims of innocence, he
was sentenced to be flogged and sent to Siberia. Aksenov spent twenty-six years
in Siberia. Slowly he gave up his desire for revenge, resigned to his fate, and
dedicated his life to God. He became a mediator of sorts in the prison, and he
was well respected by the other prisoners and guards alike. One day a new
prisoner, Makar Semonovich, was transferred to the prison. After overhearing
several conversations, Aksenov discovered that Makar Semonovich was the man who
committed the murder for which Aksenov was blamed. One day the prison guards
noticed that someone had been strewing mud around the grounds, and the search
led to the discovery of a tunnel. Aksenov had found out earlier that it was
Makar Semonovich who was digging the tunnel, but even after being questioned by
the police, Aksenov declared that it was not his place to speak about the
matter. Makar Semonovich approached Aksenov later that day in a terrible state,
and he confessed eventually his crime. Aksenov forgave Makar Semonovich, and he
felt as if a terrible weight had been lifted. In the prayer that Jesus taught,
He added a clause, “Forgive us as we forgive our trespassers”.
Forgiveness is the central problem of life. (Fr. Bobby Jose)
18) “Give us this day our daily bread:” We
are not to worry about the unknown future, but to live a day at a time.
Cardinal Newman prayed for the strength to keep the next step.
“Lead, kindly Light, amid the’ encircling gloom;
Lead thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home;
Lead thou me on!
Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene–one step enough for me.”
We are not to worry about the unknown future, but to live a
day at a time. Cardinal Newman prayed for the strength to keep the next
step. (Fr. Bobby Jose)
19) If you ask, it will be given to you.” Jesus
concluded His teaching by saying that “If you ask, it will be given to you.”
Our prayers are answered by not granting what we ask, but by giving what we
need.
I asked for strength…….
And God gave me difficulties to make me strong.
I asked for wisdom…
And God gave me problems to solve
I asked for prosperity…
And God gave me Brain and Brawn to work
I asked for courage…
And God gave me Danger to overcome
I asked for love….
And God gave me Troubled people to help
I asked for Favours….
And God gave me opportunities.
I received nothing I wanted…
I received everything I needed; my prayer have been
answered.
(Fr. Bobby Jose)
20) Let it be Tokyo: A mother sent
her fifth-grade boy up to bed. In a few minutes she went to make sure that he
was getting in bed. When she stuck her head into his room, she saw that he was
kneeling beside his bed in prayer. Pausing to listen to his prayers, she heard
her son praying over and over again. “Let it be Tokyo! Please dear God, let it
be Tokyo!” When he finished his prayers, she asked him, “What did you
mean, ‘Let it be Tokyo’?” “Oh,” the boy said with embarrassment, “we had
our geography exam today and I was praying that God would make Tokyo the
capital of France.” Prayer is not a magical means by which we get God to
do what we want. Prayer is an inner openness to God which allows His Divine
power to be released in us. Ultimately, the power of prayer is not that we
succeed in changing God, but that God succeeds in changing us.
21) Forgive us our trespasses:
10 commandments of forgiveness!
a)
Forgiveness is not easy.
b)
Forgiveness is not forgetting. Nobody ever
forgets where he buried the hatchet. It is not “forgive and forget” as if
nothing wrong had ever happened, but rather, “forgive and move forward.”
c)
Forgiveness does not overlook evil or injustice
for that would be to deny the truth.
d)
Forgiveness does not mean approval. A strong
person rebukes and forgives; a weaker person is too timid to rebuke and too
slow to forgive.
e)
Forgiveness begins with knowing you have been
forgiven. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.
f)
Forgiveness recognizes that people are always
bigger than their faults. If we look for the good it is easier to forgive the
bad.
g)
Forgiveness allows the other person to start
over again.
h)
Forgiveness surrenders the right to get even.
Vengeance is mine, says the Lord.
i)
Forgiveness wishes the other well, and even
prays for the blessing of the other person. “Love your enemies; pray for those
who persecute you.”
j)
Forgiveness is twice blest. Forgiveness does not
change the past, but it does enlarge the future.
22) Perseverance: There
is a story told of the two frogs that fell into a bucket of cream. They tried
very hard to get out by climbing up the side of the bucket. But each time they
slipped back again. Finally, one frog said, “We’ll never get out of here. I
give up.” So down he went and drowned. The other frog decided to keep trying.
Again, and again he tried to climb with front legs and kicked with his back
legs. He had almost lost his strength and his tired feet could hardly move. He
said to himself, “Now…now my end has come…I am going to drown.”
Then suddenly, he hit something hard. He turned to see what it was behind and
discovered that all his kicking had churned up a lump of butter! He hopped on
top of it and leaped out to safety. It was perseverance in his
effort that saved the second frog. Perseverance is an important virtue. It
means to be persistent, to continue without stopping; it means to start
something and to finish it to the end.
Today is the 17th Sunday in Ordinary
Time and the general theme of today’s Scripture Readings is perseverance.
The thread tying together the First Reading and the Gospel reading is perseverance
in prayer, and the Second Reading reminds us of our perseverance in
living Faith.'(Fr. A. Larka)
23) ‘Let go — let God! : A story is told
of a mother whose only child, a son, was confined in a hospital, seriously
sick. She cared for him as best she could. When some relatives or friends
dropped by, she asked them to attend to her son while she went to the Chapel.
On her knees and in tears before the Blessed Sacrament, she began by
acknowledging God as the Source of life and thanked Him for the gift of her son
who had brought joy to her life. Then she begged God to spare him. The worse
his condition became, the harder she prayed. But her prayers notwithstanding,
her son died. Her relatives and friends were worried how she would take this
turn of events. Were they surprised to see her take her son’s death in peace!
When asked how come, she answered, “What I prayed for was what I
wanted. But during my prayer, there was something in me that said, ‘Let go —
let God!’ Thus, at one point, I finally said, ‘Your will be done, Lord.’ With
my child’s death, it was obvious that God did not go along with what I wanted.
Though painful, I accepted His will wholeheartedly. He knew best.” L/19
