17th Sunday C Reflection on Prayer
St John Vianney said that the great happiness of human beings is to pray and to love.
We begin this Sunday by a glimpse into two cities whose inhabitants did not pray and did not love. Sodom and Gomorrah. These people “had given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, and are set forth as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire” (Jude 1:7). Ezekiel (16:49) tells us they acted abominably and were corrupt. They were “proud, sated with food, complacent in prosperity. They did not give any help to the poor and needy. Instead, they became arrogant and committed abominations before me; then, as you have seen, I removed them.” St Peter writes: “God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly” (2 Peter 2:6). Satan was their master.
When Abraham heard of God’s intent to destroy the two cities, he began to pray for them. He persevered in praying for them, and God granted each request. If there are ten righteous people according to Abraham’s final request, God promised out of mercy not to destroy the cities.
Perseverance in prayer is a sign of deep love and trust, as we believe that God always listens when we pray, and always answers. His answer can only be one of three possibilities: ‘Yes sure, I grant what you ask now.’ Or, ‘Yes sure, but you have to wait and trust me for the best time.’ Or, ‘No, but I have something much better for you.’
Petition or asking forms only a small part of a healthy prayer life and relationship with God. If you look at God as a Father Christmas to only approach with what you want or need, then your relationship is very shallow.
God is our loving Father or Abba, as Jesus teaches, and we have to grow in our relationship with Him. We can begin by seeing Him as Creator and Provider, then as Loving Father, then as Friend, and ultimately as my Beloved, my Spouse, who is my All in All. I then spend time with the One I know loves me, and loves me more deeply than anyone, and is Beauty and Goodness and Love and Joy and Peace itself. We can have deep union and communion with God in Christ, as St. Paul reminds us in the second reading.
God cannot give us more than Himself, and Jesus promises that the Heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. The Holy Spirit is God Himself, and in God is the answer to all our desires, longings, sufferings and pain.
St. Mary Magdalene. whose feast we celebrated this week had a deep love for Jesus, stayed with Him on Calvary, and stayed weeping at the empty tomb. Her love persevered and she would not give up. ‘Whom do you seek?’ In prayer, we all seek God, the Risen Christ. She became the first to encounter the Risen Lord, and became the Apostle to the Apostles, because of the depth of her love, her seeking in prayer, and her finding the One whom she loves in her soul.
May we all persevere in our prayer relationship with God, and as we often pray the prayer Jesus himself taught us, may it be wholehearted and filled with deep faith and trust. The Holy Spirit will help us always, and our Blessed Mother and all the saints who are supreme examples of prayer will assist us.
Jesus assures us: “Ask and it will be given you, seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”