17 Sunday C - Teach us to Pray

Michel de Verteuil
General Textual CommentsJesus’ teaching on prayer in this passage has many aspects. There is no need to look for an overall logic in the passage; just choose the aspect that touches you here and now.

Verse 1: the disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray.
Verses 2-4: the Lord’s prayer. As the introductory words indicate, the prayer was given not so much as a formula, but as a style of prayer. The following verses will help you identify what this style is.
The prayer is Luke’s version, which is slightly different from the one we are accustomed to which comes mostly from Matthew 5:9-13.
Verses 5-8: this is a parable. As in last week’s meditation, discover what is for you the significant moment of the story; it will lead you to the word God has for you in this parable.
In verses 9 to 13, the parable is interpreted by Jesus, although as a teaching it can stand on its own. To get the full teaching in verses 9 and 10, you must take literally the word “always” repeated three times. There is a tendency to water it down, and as a result the message is lost.
Enter into the movement of verses 11 and 13, and the dramatic style of the teaching.

Scripture Reflections
“The modern world listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if it does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.” ... Pope Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi
Lord, remind us that the most effective way to teach others how to pray,
is for them to find us praying,
and when we are finished to ask us to teach them how we do it.
Lord, many people today are learning to pray in traditions that are foreign to us – …TM, yoga, Zen meditation.
We pray that, as Jesus did for his disciples,
his Church may hear the cry of its members
asking to be taught how to pray.
“In this world monopoly, do we ever ‘pass go’ or do we ‘go straight to jail’?”…David Rudder, Trinidad Calypsonian
Lord, we thank you for moments of prayer
when we find within ourselves a hope
that your name will be held holy and your kingdom come.
“When I give bread to the hungry, they call me a saint; when I ask why the hungry have no bread, they call me a communist.”  …Bishop Helder Camara
Lord, help us, when we pray for the coming of your kingdom, to ask for it in its entirety.
Keep us searching for the day when every one will have each day their daily bread,
when those in debt will be freed of all their indebtedness,
and poor people will no longer be put to the test of survival.
“We should let ourselves be brought naked and defenseless before God, without explanation, without theories, completely dependent upon his providential care, in dire need of the gift of his grace, his mercy and the light of faith.”   …Thomas Merton
Lord, you have revealed yourself to us as friend, and that has been helpful.
But it could lead us to become complacent, as if you owe us favours.
So every once in a while we experience you as someone who gives us our daily bread
not from friendship but because we persist in knocking at your door.
Thank you, Lord.
“Prayer is the union of nothing with the Nothing.”  …Augustine Baker, English mystic
Lord, forgive us that we have made prayer into a bargain,
where in exchange for our asking we receive your favours.
Bring us to that prayer which is merely knocking  at a door that is already open,
searching in the dark for something that is already found.
Lord, we sometimes think we have to leave our experience to get close to you.
But Jesus taught us to start with what we have known.
So today, we thank you for those who love us,
friends, parents, spiritual guides, teachers,
the kind of people we know if ever we asked them for bread,
no way would they give us a stone,
or if we asked them for fish, no way would they hand us a snake,
and if we asked them for an egg, no way would they hand us a scorpion.
Lord, these people are good but their goodness cannot compare with yours.
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Thomas O’Loughlin
Introduction to the Celebration
We are assembled here, not as a bunch of individuals, but as distinct members of a single body. This is something that we recall in a special way today when we read a story about the first discipies asking to be taught how to prayer together. We are the people who can call God our Father, who gather now to thank him and praise his name, who gather to ask him for our daily needs, and who ask him to forgive us as we forgive others. We need to pause now and recall our need of forgiveness for ourselves, and Jesus’s call to us to forgive others.


Gospel Notes
This story of the disciples asking for a lesson in prayer methods is only found in Luke; in Matthew (6:9-13) the ‘Our Father’ given in the context of an instruction forming part of the Sermon on the Mount.
So the first point to note is that in our memories we combine this occasion in Luke, with the text that is found Matthew. We see this common memory harmonising the texts in many introductions to the ‘Our Father’ in the liturgy.
Second, the text here seems ‘simpler’ than that which known in the tradition or found in Matthew; and therefore cause we assume everything develops in a sequence from ‘simple’ to ‘complex’, it is often glibly stated that therefore this Lukan version is ‘more original’ or even ‘closer to the words of Jesus’. This often leads to attempts to derive the familiar fo from this one in Luke, and it is an endeavour that invariably calls for ever more subtle moves to seem convincing. The place to start is not with the written gospels — either Matthew or Luke but with the community of the church which preserved the memory of Jesus during those crucial early decades before papyrus and ink could freeze the shape of the memory.
That Jesus taught some prayer that was distinctive in its approach to God is certain, as all the evidence coheres that there was a common Christian prayer formula and that it addressed God as ‘father’. That this was taught orally can be observed two ways. Firstly, the well-rounded cadences and doublets (e.g ‘thy kingdom come, thy will be done’) point to a text rounded off to allow for easy committal to memory. Secondly, the prayer has some minor variations in the various languages and in the manuscripts, and these variations show that oral transmission was the norm and that scribes followed their memories rather than their exemplars when copying Matthew. The most famous of these slight variations is the doxology (‘for the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours now and forever’) which was omitted in Latin. Moreover, we know that the prayer, in virtually the shape we know it, was part of the training of new Christians before the time of our gospels: we find it in the Didache (but with one or two tiny changes which prove that the scribe was neither copying from memory or from Matthew). So we can conclude that before 70 AD this prayer in our familiar form was being learned by heart as part of the basic formation of every Christian.
Since it was such a basic element of the Didache (the training), it had to have a place in the kerygma (the preaching). Consequently, Matthew incorporated it into his most formal sermon exactly as it was recited in Greek in the churches in which he preached. Luke, however, opted to explain its importance with an origin story, and either knowing or recognising that it was well smoothed for memory based recitation, gave it a more archaic feel in his text. His construction — which has never been a reciting text anywhere — is therefore the first commentary on the prayer in so far as his text highlights what Luke saw as its most important features.
He then takes the opportunity to present some other teaching on prayer and the Father’s answering of prayer. First, he has the parable of the friend at midnight (11:5-8) — which is only found in Luke — which contrasts God’s concern with humanity with what one could expect from even base motives. Second, he has the statements on how the Father will answer those who ask for their needs. The interesting difference here with Matthew (7:11) is that while in Matthew the Father gives good things to those who ask him, here the Father gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask him. This fits with Luke’s overarching theology that it is the Spirit who dwells in, gives life to, and directs the church.

Homily Notes

1. This is a day when we really must learn from our history as the community founded on Jesus.
2. The written gospels that we treasure came into their written form in the last third of the first century. Mark was probably written in the late 60s, John in the 90s, and very probably Matthew and Luke sometime in between. There are many subtle arguments moving the dates a bit this way or bit that way, but this is a broad consensus, and does for our purposes. The key fact is that the written gospels are not only at least a generation after the first disciples – a generation being about 25 years – but they are in the different cultural setting of the Hellenistic cities rather than rural Palestine.
3. Now we can ask a key question: was it a book or books that kept the people together and gave them identity during these early years, or was it something else? The simplistic answer is to think of Christians as, to use an oft-repeated but wholly inappropriate phrase, ‘people of the book’: so the key to Christian identity is that they accept ‘The Bible’ or ‘The Gospels’ or some such set of writings. But Jesus is the only re­ligious leader in history that. never wrote a book or dictated a book or even ordered a book to be written (writing in sand is hardly a good example of a desire for written records!).
4. What kept the community in being was its regular practices as a community and its memories recalled in community. To be a Christian is to be a member of a group, the community of the People of God, not to be just one more individual who buys into a philosophy or a spirituality.
5. How can we find out about these key practices? We can see them in three ways: first,· we see them in a wonderful little guide for training new members which predates our written gospels and is given the rather off-putting title of The Training (the Didache). It is wonderful as it tells us directly what they had to do as a group. Second, we see these prac­tices referred to now and again in the letters that are in the New Testament, most of which predate our gospels. Third, we see strange echoes of the practices in our gospels – they are ‘strange echoes’ as they usually are presented as an event which the first hearers of gospels would immediately see as the ‘original event’ that is the background and authorisation for what they are actually doing.
6. So what were these key practices? The first, and most import­ant practice, was that they gathered each week as a group ­and the groups were probably no more than 25-50 people in size – and ate together the meal of the Lord. In the midst of a proper community meal, they thanked the Father for sending his Son to gather up the scattered flock of Israel and celebrated this re-gathering ‘Jesus-style’ by each getting his/her share in the one loaf and then each drinking from a single cup of blessing as they all had a single life-force surging through their veins. At this gathering they recalled the memory of Jesus and welcomed new members through baptism. This practice would become our Sunday Eucharist – the actual meal disappeared, and the memories were fixed by being written down. Over the centuries there have been other changes that have made the basic facts of eating and drinking less obvious, but one can still make out the pattern.
7. During the rest of the week they had fixed community prac­tices. Fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays, and giving to charity were the two material practices of prominence. We see this given an ‘echo’ in the gospels in scene when Jesus tells the disciples to fast but not show off that you are fasting, to give alms but not ostentatiously, and to pray but not where everyone will see you (Mt 6). There was also a practice that was carried out each day: three times each day they re­cited the prayer we call the ‘Our Father’. This was done prob­ably at morning, noon, and in the evening. It is this practice that is being given an origin point and’ authorisation’ in the words of Jesus himself, and a specific purpose, in today’s gospel reading.
8. There is a strange aspect to this prayer that we usually miss when we say it during our Eucharists. It is the prayer of a group even when someone says it privately: it is a prayer to ‘Our Father, … give us this day … forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not, but deliver us from .. .’ What this tells us is that in those very first generations even when the group had not gathered together, the individuals had such a common sense of being part of the People of God, that they saw the fact that they were all pray­ing at the same time (even if the individuals were physically apart) meant that they were offering a single group prayer. At morning, noon, and evening, even when alone, the Christians prayed as the single body of Christ to their Father.
9. This need for prayer at fixed times, and indeed to recite the Our Father, continued as part of the Liturgy of the Hours but this (with odd exceptions) is now something confined to ‘professional religious people.’ (You could show a volume of the Breviary as a visual aid at this point.) And, in any case, this is a far too cumbersome prayer for someone racing to get out in the morning, get the kids out, and get everything else done. However, saying the ‘Our Father’ – the bedrock of reg­ular Christian prayer – is not too difficult: it does not require formally sitting or standing, it does not need so much time that a household needs to be ordered around the prayer, and it does not need a book.
10. Many Christians have today lost three precious understand­ings.
First, Christians have, to a large extent, lost the sense of the importance of formal prayer at regular times. Yet all human experience of religion – just look at the regular prayer times in Islam – not to mention our experience from the very first days of the church shows us that regular formal prayer is essential to preserve our sense of God.
Second, Christians have often lost the sense that when we pray as Christians it is not my prayer and your prayer, but our prayer in Jesus. The sense of a common time uniting separated people is some­thing that used to be reinforced by the Angelus Bell just as in Islam it is done by the voice of the muezzin, but we need to recall that when we prayer simultaneously we are praying as one body and I pray at this time to join my prayer with that of the body. Praying simultaneously is a non-computer-based ‘virtual community’.
Third, to be a Christian is to be a disciple, a disciple is one who learns over time and takes on the prac­tices, the discipline, of the master. The master prayed regu­larly – as we hear about Jesus in today’s gospel- so must we.
11.A recovery of the practice of everyone saying the ‘Our Father’ morning, noon, and evening is the basis of a renewal programme for the whole church, that does not need a single meeting or handbook to get it started.
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Sean Goan
Gospel Notes

Staying with the important theme of prayer, this week’s extract from Luke brings the teaching on prayer that accompanied the giving of the Our Father. In Luke, Jesus teaches this prayer because the disciples have asked for his help. The form of the prayer is the short one, as opposed to the longer version in Matthew which was adopted by the church as the version for use in the liturgy. In its short form we see even more clearly how this simple prayer has all that we need. We praise God as Father, we acknowledge that we want what he wants and that we trust him to look after us. We also recognise our need for forgiveness and our willingness to forgive. Finally we ask that in the life of faith we will not have to endure anything that would cause us to lose that faith. In what follows, Jesus uses the images of the unwilling friend and the caring parent to make us think about the relationship with God that should lie behind our prayer. God is the loving Father and in giving us the Holy Spirit he is holding back nothing.

Reflection

Today’s gospel is about prayer and in it Jesus encourages his followers to persevere in prayer and not to lose heart. The unanswered request and the door that remains shut are not unusual experiences for people who pray. Indeed we can be left wondering why our prayers are not answered. Is it because we lack faith or worse still because of our sins? At such times we need to remember that Christian prayer is not about magic nor is it an elaborate heavenly lottery. Being baptised means that we share in the dying and rising of Christ, not just once but many times on our way home to the Father. Prayer teaches us about what is really important and, while it does not always take away our pain, through it we can come to understand a little better how and where God is at work in our lives.

Jesus prayed always…

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4. Donal Neary S.J.
Trust in prayer

 Often I pray to St Anthony and I find what I was looking for. I can’t understand why but it brings up the question of praying for what we want and need. People pray hard for an intention; some pray for ages and are answered, some are not.

We often pray for what may be outside God’s control: that someone may give up drink, when the person may not want to; that children will be kept safe on the roads, but they are killed or injured with the careless and dangerous driving of someone else, maybe under addictive influence.
We are encouraged always to pray with hope and persistence, believing that we always get something. In the asking is the receiving, and we never leave prayer worse off than when we began.

For any time we give to prayer, we get something. We are transformed. St Ignatius speaks of the effect of prayer – an increase in faith, hope and love. We may not get the specific intention but we always get the Holy Spirit. I have never left prayer the poorer than when I began. In the knocking at the door itself something is opened. In asking and seeking we get something. The first gift of prayer is the love of God. Other gifts follow.
Prayer increases our trust in God, that he wants our good and is with us in love.
So we pray for what we need and then leave the prayer with God, to be answered as he can. This is one of the greatest faiths of all.

Our Father,holy be your name,your kingdom come and  will be done within me and  in earth and heaven.

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From the Connections:

THE WORD:
In today’s reading from Luke’s Gospel, the disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray.  What is important to grasp is not the words of the prayer (Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer is shorter and more concise than Matthew’s version), but the attitude of prayer Jesus teaches.  To pray is not to impose our will on God but to ask God to make us open to his will; in other words, we pray not to change God's mind but for God to change ours.
Authentic prayer, as taught by Jesus and contained in the Lord’s Prayer, has three elements:

• acknowledging the goodness and love of God:  Jesus teaches us to call God “Father.”  God is not the cosmic tyrant out of whom gifts have to be extracted through humiliating pleading; God is the loving eternal Parent who delights in providing for his children's needs.
• asking that we may do God’s will:  Prayer worthy of God asks for the grace to do the work he calls us to do (forgiveness, reconciliation, justice), to become the people he calls us to become (brothers and sisters under our heavenly Father).
• voicing our hope in the providence of God:  We come before God knowing that, just as parents will provide for their children a good friend will aid another friend, God will hear our prayers and provide us with what we need.  Even if it seems as if our prayers are unanswered, we live with the confident faith that the God hears and responds in ways that assure us of his presence in our lives.

HOMILY POINTS:

We often approach prayer as if we are trying to wring gifts from an unwilling God; in fact, we come before a God who knows our needs better than we do ourselves. 
Authentic prayer is not a formula or ritual but an awareness of God's presence in our lives, of God’s hand as sustainer and nurturer of creation, of God’s love giving breath to every moment of our existence.
Prayer is to realize the connection between the compassion of God and the love we experience in our lives, between God’s forgiveness and the forgiveness we extend, between the holy creativity of God and the work we do for our daily bread. 

Prayer (clothes) line

Barbara Brown Taylor is a writer, college professor and Episcopal minister, as well as a wife, mother and grandmother.  How does prayer fit into her busy and varied life? 
She writes in her best-selling book An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith:
“When people ask me about my prayer life, I describe hanging laundry on the line.  After a day of too much information about almost everything, there is such blessed relief in the weight of wet clothes, causing the wicker basket to creak as I carry it out to the clothesline.  Every time I bend down to shake loose a piece of laundry, I smell the grass.  I smell the sun.  Above all, I smell clean laundry.  This is something concrete that I have accomplished, a rarity in my brainy life of largely abstract accomplishments.
“Most of my laundry belongs to my husband, Ed, who can go through more clothes in a week than most toddlers.  Hanging his laundry on the line becomes a labor of love.  I hang each T-shirt like a prayer flag, shaking it first to get the wrinkles out and then pinning it to the line with two wooden clothespins.  Even the clothespins give me pleasure.  I add a prayer for the trees from which these clothespins came, along with the Penley Corporation of West Paris, Maine, which is still willing to make them from wood instead of colored plastic.
“Since I am a compulsive person, I go to some trouble to impose order on the lines of laundry: handkerchiefs first, then jockey shorts, then T-shirts, then jeans.  If I sang these clothes, the musical notes they made would lead me in a staccato, downward scale.  The socks go all in a row at the end like exclamation points.  All day long, as I watch the breeze toss these clothes in the wind, I imagine my prayers spinning away over the tops of the trees.  This is good work, this prayer.  This is good prayer, this work.”

To truly understand the words of Jesus’ prayer in today’s Gospel is to approach prayer as a connection between the compassion of God and the love we experience in our lives, between God’s forgiveness and the forgiveness we extend, between the holy creativity of God and the work of providing for our daily bread.  Prayer is to live our lives conscious of God’s grace in every moment, an awareness of God’s love in our midst in both the bread of the Eucharist and the lunch we make for our families, in both the waters of Baptism and the never-ending laundry, in both our quiet moments of reflection and the rambunctious joy of playing with our kids.  May we become people of prayer: to embrace the spirit and attitude of prayer that actively seeks out and gratefully celebrates God’s presence in all things.

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From Fr. Jude Botelho

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’

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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)

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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. 

1. Jesus Prayed Regularly.
2. Jesus Prayed Sensibly.
3. Jesus Prayed Confidently. 

James W. Moore, Encounters With Christ, www.eSermons.com

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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...

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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... 
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14. Abraham in Prayer:

Father James Gilhooley  A prayer-master advised his listeners to adopt the APU program when they pray. When predictably they asked what the acronym meant, he said with a smile, "Be aggressive. Be persistent. Be unreasonable." His disciples balked at such an approach to the Almighty. But the guru directed their attention to Genesis 18. There Abraham is in conversation (or is it prayer?) with God. Abraham the text shows is aggressive, persistent, and unreasonable. On the evidence, God should have destroyed the immoral and  infamous cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. They deserved whatever they got and then some. But Abraham proves to be an able negotiator. By clever maneuvering over some time, He causes God to back down on His original plan. Perhaps even at surprise to Himself, Yahweh allows Abraham to win the day. The cities are spared. Chalk a big victory up for Father Abraham. More importantly, do take a page out of his how-to-pray manual. If Abraham could get the gold ring in his prayer, why cannot you and I? Abraham has convincingly shown us that God is a soft touch. And His own Son happily confirms that point in today's Gospel. Also we have a big edge over Abraham. Jesus instructs us today to address God as "Father." That translates as you know into "Daddy" or "Pop." If we think the APU plan is off the wall, Abraham would think calling Jehovah "Daddy" or, worse, "Pop" completely ludicrous. As proof, note that in Genesis 18 Father Abraham addressed God most solemnly as "Lord" four times in the framework of a few seconds. Imagine what Abraham might have accomplished with his APU approach if he felt able to call his exalted Lord "Daddy!" Unfortunately for him, as he would be the first to tell us, he was born centuries too soon. So, in our prayer we must employ not merely a strong  second effort but rather Abraham's third and even fourth effort. Abraham was a moose and obviously he was not designed to take "no" for an answer. Had God asked him what part of "no" he had difficulty in understanding, he would answer immediately "the whole word, Lord." If he could respond that way to God, then why not we? So, don't be afraid to nag. After all, as someone has noted, God does have millions of people calling Him. There are times He must put you on hold. But, when He does come back to you and says, "Thank you for holding," you are in the driver's seat. At that point, Father Abraham would quickly advise you, "Go for the gold." 15. Our Father: I was traveling through the majestic state of Arizona. I made a visit to an attractive chapel in a small town. I found the following in a pew. It ties in nicely with today's Gospel. "I cannot say `our' if I live only for myself. I cannot say `Father' if I do not approach God like a child. I cannot say `who art in heaven' if I am not laying up some treasure there right now. I cannot say `Hallowed be thy name' if I am careless with that name. I cannot say `Thy kingdom come' if I am not working to actualize it in the here and now. I cannot say `Thy will be done' if I am resentful of that will for me at this moment. I cannot say `on earth as it is in heaven' if I don't look on heaven as my future home. I cannot say `Give us our daily bread' if I am overanxious about tomorrow. I cannot say `Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us' if I am waiting to settle a score with someone. I cannot say `Lead us not into temptation' if I deliberately put myself in a place to be tempted. (A sage teaches it is a smart person who flees temptation and does not leave a forwarding address.) I cannot say `Deliver us from evil' if I am not prepared to pray as though everything depends on God and work as though as everything depends on me."  Dag Hammerskjold wrote, "Hallowed be thy name, not mine. Thy Kingdom come, not mine. Thy will be done, not mine." A final word! From today's Gospel, God does appear to enjoy brevity. The prayer He teaches us today has but 44 words. His Ten Commandments has a modest 297 words. The famous Twenty-third Psalm a mere 118 words. Should we not follow suit?  Perhaps God is telling us He is not appreciative of long winded prayers. Furthermore, He is not hard of hearing. (JG) ---------------- 16. Lumen Fidei: The New Encyclical: Here are some possible applications from LF to this Sunday's readings: The encyclical has 23 references to Abraham, who is the subject of our first reading. In the second reading St. Paul speaks about baptism, which is also mentioned 23 times in "Lumen Fidei." Like Jesus in the Gospel, Pope Francis insists that far from being opposed to seeking, true faith involves seeking, asking and knocking. (You will find the word "seek" 14 times in LF.)

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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.  

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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. 

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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.”

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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!

1.     Forgiveness is not easy.

2.     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.”

3.     Forgiveness does not overlook evil or injustice for that would be to deny the truth.

4.     Forgiveness does not mean approval. A strong person rebukes and forgives; a weaker person is too timid to rebuke and too slow to forgive.

5.     Forgiveness begins with knowing you have been forgiven. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.

6.     Forgiveness recognizes that people are always bigger than their faults. If we look for the good it is easier to forgive the bad.

7.     Forgiveness allows the other person to start over again.

8.     Forgiveness surrenders the right to get even. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord.

9.     Forgiveness wishes the other well, and even prays for the blessing of the other person. “Love your enemies; pray for those who persecute you.”

10.  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 17^th 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 as 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.”