Weekly Prayer & Reflection
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7/25/2010 Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Dyonne Finn, SSND |
Persevering in prayer
First Reading: Genesis 18:20-32
Responsorial: Psalm 138:1-2, 2-3, 6-7, 7-8
Second Reading: Colossians 2:12-14
Gospel: Luke 11:1-13
No wonder Abraham is known as the “Father of his Nation.” What an example of persevering prayer and NEGOTIATING!
· Will you sweep away the innocent with the guilty?
· Should not the judge of all the world act with justice?
· I am presuming to speak to my Lord, though I am but dust and ashes!
· Let not my Lord grow impatient with me.
· Please let not my Lord grow angry if I speak up this last time.
How Abraham pleaded with God for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. God was willing if ten faithful could be found.
Then Paul reminds us “God obliterated the bond against us by nailing it to the Cross.” Then Jesus teaches us how to pray – Our Father. Yes, Our Father. Ask, seek and knock. If you know how to give gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?
Sometimes my head “swims” as I listen to the news recanting the evils and problems around the world as well as the suffering, fears and challenges of those with whom I live and visit.
I have more time to pray since my retirement from ministering in hospice care. I'm able to lift these causes to the Lord but “limp” compared to Abraham's “chasing” after God's mercy.
It helps to consider Paul's reminder that it is Jesus' death on the cross that frees us from the bondage of evil and Jesus' prayer telling us of our Father's desire to deliver us from all evil that enables our conversation to include the joys and blessings of the day – seeing the presence of God's care and love and the resurgence of hope.