17th Sunday - Ordinary Time

I know that Msgr. Vann kept you informed about me being away at school this summer. I also noticed that he asked you for prayers for me at school. God knows I needed them. Thank you for all of your prayers. I prayed for you all every day and offered several Masses for you.

Speaking of prayer. I had trouble printing off this homily for 8:30 Mass this morning. I found myself begging – please God, help me print this off, my memory isn’t that good. Then I was imagining the 8:30 crowd begging – please God, don’t let him print his homily, we don’t want to have to listen to it. So who’s prayers get answered?

Look at the Gospel for today. Jesus is teaching us about prayer. In that parable – the two friends on either side of the door - is Jesus saying God is behind the door and doesn’t want to let us in? Or is He saying that it is difficult for us to get to God and we just have to be persistent? Or is He saying that its easy to talk to God, you just can’t get in to see His face for a while? What is He saying about prayer?

Now think of the first reading. If we look at it next to the Gospel we see it is also about prayer and persistence. God goes to Abraham to tell him He is going to deal with Sodom and Gomorrah. Why does God do that? - Does God actually need Abraham’s advice? Is He looking for permission? Or is He trying to teach Abraham something and let him be a part of what God does in the world? Is Abraham pleading for mercy or trying to understand God’s justice? We do know that Abraham was called a friend of God – so what is going on with these two friends?

Boy I have a lot of questions.

I would like to tell you a story to clear all of this up. – But I couldn’t think of one so you’ll have to just listen to me drone on. – Actually I don ’t have all the answers on this. Maybe that’s part of the point. Maybe getting to know God is not so much getting all the answers as it is learning to ask the right questions.

Maybe we can get at this by looking at a few different examples. While I was away on vacation, Monsignor stacked the deck on me. He already had brought Deacon Mike here – who is a Cardinal fan. Now while I was gone, he brought Seminarian Kevin here – who is a Cardinal fan. Was this an answer to his prayers to help him put up with me being a Cubs fan? By the way, he left for vacation this morning, let’s all pray for him, and for his safe trip.

Speaking of baseball, I’m sure you’ve seen a player walk up to the plate, make the sign of the cross and then knock one out of the park. The next thing he does is point up to God to acknowledge that God answered his prayer. So here we are all thinking – now there’s a good Catholic boy. But what about the pitcher who made the sign of the cross as he came out of the dugout and then served up that pitch that turned into that monster shot? Whose prayers got answered?

Here’s another example – the Cubs go to St. Louis to play the Cardinals and our new seminarian is on his knees praying for a yet another victory. Meanwhile I’m confident the Cubs will win? No… I’m on my knees praying the Cubs won’t be humiliated again in that house of pain. I’m not just praying for the Cubs, I’m praying for me – why do I have to suffer this persecution? How about driving. You’re in traffic and you find yourself praying – don’t let him cut me off I’m late. Meanwhile the guy in the other car is praying - help me get in front of that guy, I’m late. Or shopping – two women in the same isle at the same time spot the same dress. The one closest picks it up and prays – Oh God, thank you, this is just what I was looking for! Meanwhile, the other woman is praying – Oh God, don’t let her like it, don’t let her take it.

So whose prayers are being answered? Maybe seminarian Kevin’s prayers are answered and he gets what he wants. St. Louis wins - again – and it increases the Cardinal virtues in him. His faith in God is increased, his hope for eternal life grows stronger (you know, maybe that prayer for eternal life will be answered too), and his love for God increases because he got what he wants.

Meanwhile, maybe my prayers actually are answered – and I get what I need. Remember, “what Father among you would give your son a snake when he asks for a fish?” Instead my faith is tested so in that way it is strengthened. My hope definitely increases – hey, maybe God is a Cubs fan – nobody can market hope like the Cubs can. And my love increases because I am on my knees in conversation with my Creator – even if it is just begging for the outcome of a game – my love increases because communication is what makes a relationship.

Does it sound silly? Well don’t we find ourselves praying, or at least hoping, like that over the little things that don’t really matter in the grand scope of life?

I suspect that these “little” examples around prayer are about building relationship with God. Remember that marriage is the biblical image of our relationship with God. And we all know, you can’t even get married, much less stay that way, if you don’t have some real communication. What about the bigger questions? What about when I am praying for my Grandpa to live longer? I wanted my Grandpa around a lot longer than I had him. The same is true with the friends of mine that were killed in a car accident. Sure I prayed, but God doesn’t bring people back from the dead all that often. He brought Lazarus back but remember, Lazarus still had to go through dying again. I don’t think I want that either. I found myself wondering what it will look like when we are on the eternity side of these questions. In God’s eyes, what’s the difference between 20 years and 80? I ’m sure the point is more how you live the years you have than how many you have to live.

So what did my prayers do? They brought me here, to the priesthood. When I was on my knees, laying my heart out to God, I didn’t get what I wanted – I got what I needed. I didn’t get the people I love back the way I asked, but I definitely felt the consoling presence of God in the middle of my grief. God was very real to me at that moment. There is nothing so real as the presence of God. So my faith was increased, my hope that I could get to eternal life and spend forever with the ones I love increased, and of course my love for them and God increased. I found myself with a stronger desire for God.

So maybe one of the things prayer does is bring us closer to eternal life, and a real relationship with God. Maybe my prayers help someone else on the way to salvation while at the same time bringing me closer to the same thing. After all prayer doesn’t change God, it changes me. So it seems like answers to the little prayers have us thinking – wow, God is good, how else can God serve me – how do I get what I want? But over time we inevitably run into the bigger situations. I think they leave us thinking – wow, God is as real as it gets, I don’t understand Him, but I know He’s awesome – how can I serve God – and be with him forever?

Let’s go back to the parable with the two friends on either side of the door. Maybe that’s what prayer is doing - God knocking at one side while we are knocking at the other. Those kind of doors were usually just a big wooden thing with a beam across it to hold it there. That’s why the man didn’t respond as quickly as the other wanted him to. It’s a long and difficult task to open that door.

This parable is a good way to see how prayer works. You see, the people of the Old Testament, people like Abraham, prayed long and hard for a Savior, for a way back to God. They were knocking on that door. And then, we’ve seen this at ball games too, its John 3:16 – for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son. And His Son was nailed to that beam across the doorway to God. Not to secure it in place, but so that the weight of the love of that sacrifice would bust it down. God wants to be with us, and He always is! But we can’t be with Him unless we are praying. Jesus did say there are a few things we can count on with prayer: “Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”