Prayer
Prayer is the theme of today’s liturgy. Prayer is a very broad topic and impossible to describe within one reflection.
There are a lot of people who become religious only when they want something. When they pray and do not get what they ask for, they are further convinced that prayer does not work. Jesus tells us it does. The problem is we are too impatient, and we want things right away. Additionally, we must not forget to add “thy will be done” at the end of our prayer as we say in “Our Father.” God sees and knows much more than us. God knows what is best for us and gives us what we really need and what saves us.
The first reading from the Book of Genesis gives us a beautiful example of Abraham’s prayer. Abraham interceded for the people of Sodom. God wanted to destroy the city of sin, but Abraham pleaded for the righteous habitants of the city. God promised to save the city if there are fifty innocent people, and then, fourth five, fourth, thirty, and even twenty. The prayer is meaningful but also dramatic. Abraham stopped his intercession at ten. As we know the story, the city was destroyed because there were not ten righteous people in Sodom. I just wonder if the city would be saved if Abraham kept going to five or three. The story, a wonderful image of an intercession prayer, encourages us to pray for others. God listens to our prayer as long as we are persistent like Abraham and believe in our prayer.
Mostly whenever we think of prayer we think of asking for things and people. And this is the right thing to do. However, the more vital reason to pray is to build a relationship with God. Relationships cannot exist without communication. Furthermore, the quality of our relationship with someone depends on the quality of our communication with them. We need to learn how to communicate with God, just as we need to learn how to communicate with one another.
In today’s gospel, Jesus knows prayer has its difficulties. Thus, he tells us not to give up. “Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened” (Luke 11:9-10). Persistence and faith are essential conditions of our prayer.
Jesus said, “Ask and you will receive.” He does not say, “you might receive or maybe you will receive.” What he is saying is that no prayer is wasted. Prayer cannot fail to bring some blessing even we were asking for something else. If we truly believe God is all wise and all loving we receive what we really need. Instead of physical things and healing we sometimes receive spiritual ones which are more important for us. Prayer works, even when we do not see immediate results.
Lastly, the greatest obstacle to prayer is our busyness and lack of time. Most of the people I spoke with about their prayer excuse themselves with lack of time for God. We have time for many things but not for God. God is not most important for us. If we want to pray well we must change our mind and find time for God. We schedule our daily activates in our calendar in order to remember and avoid missing important things. If we want to pray we must begin to schedule our prayer. We will have much more chance to pray and to meet our loving God when we schedule our prayer ahead of time.
Fr. Andrzej
