A homily for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 24, 2022
Gn 18:20-32, Col 2:12-14, Lk 11:1-13
Can we talk?
Can we take a minute or three to talk about talking? Because there’s a lot to say.
Our whole world revolves around the ability of humankind to verbalize, to try to convey what’s in our hearts and minds to other people. To attempt to express what we’ve observed from our unique perspectives in time and space. To share what we understand, and to plug gaps in that understanding, courtesy of others.
Even written words such as these you’re reading are approximations of what someone would say out loud — or in a whisper — to another person were that listener present.
Speaking underlies every deal, every contract, every partnership.
Every relationship.
Conversations — a word with roots in words that mean words shared together — conversations start relationships, build them, sustain them and, too often, devastate them.
Some people talk too much; some, too little; some, not at all. In every case, a relationship is affected.
So what about our relationship with God?
The Apostles innocently but sincerely asked Jesus to give them a formula for prayer, a template for connecting to the Almighty. What Jesus gave them — gave us — is as much a contract as it is a conversation. Perhaps more so.
The Lord’s Prayer begins by establishing roles in this relationship, shaped by the patriarchal rules of the first century. The Almighty shall be acknowledged as father, head of the household, ruler of the kingdom, someone to be revered and, in this case, outright worshipped.
This Father is benevolent, and once asked, will provide everything humanity needs to sustain life on this planet, with the promise of a home in the kingdom yet to come.
Women and men, in return, will make peace among themselves and not stray from the road that leads to God.
The Lord’s Prayer, as we’ve come to know it, is beautiful in its simple expression of a complex relationship, but for too many people it has become merely a jumble of unexamined words to be chanted. (For example: Why would God ever lead us into temptation? Deliver us from evil, yes, but lead us away from the Divine Light? What a lousy translation!)
Side story about unexamined words: A London-born journalist, writing about prayer in schools, explained that when she was young in England, they recited The Lord’s Prayer at the start of every school day. Their Anglican version started “Our Father, which art in heaven…” but over the scratchy PA system they thought they heard “Our Father we chart in heaven…” and they wondered if they had to draw some sort of celestial map to find God.
All in all, it’s a gift that we have this prayer, especially since that gift came from Jesus himself.
But we can’t rely on a handful of “get out the little leather-bound book, kneel down, fold your hands, bow your heads and say what officialdom says we have to say” prayers to sustain a relationship with The Ultimate. (Most of that sentence should be hyphenated…)
Rituals indeed can enfold us, but rote is not right.
We’d be no better than robocall Mary who’s checking on our auto warranty status.
Prayer must come from the heart. Prayer demands our full attention and full participation.
Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays.
— Soren Kierkegaard
Most people of faith acknowledge that prayer comes in three flavors: praising God, thanking God and asking God for something needed or wanted. There’s no mandate to employ pre-written prayers; there’s no prohibition, either. We can achieve these three with or without scriptural guidance.
The first step toward a mature prayer life, and thereby a mature relationship with God, is to assess how and when we pray. How and when we converse with God.
Converse, as in listen before speaking. As in give-and-take. As in multiple participants.
So let’s think about our conversations with each other.
They can be animated, excited, over the top. They can be whispered expressions of love and caring. They can be nearly wordless, as when merely being present for someone is the greatest gift and source of comfort.
A true conversation with another person here on Earth is not slapdash or half-hearted.
Why would we think that conversations with God should be any different?
Good morning, God. Thank you for today and for everyone and everything today will bring. Thank you for the skills you already have given me, and please send me what I’ll need to plow through any obstacles life puts in my way. Please care for my sisters and brothers whose needs you know, because you are awesome. Wow.
