Come to Know the Father
Obviously, this is not to be taken literally, right? I mean, come on: "Everyone who asks receives?" I've asked, in prayer, for many things and have not received them. Haven't you too? So how are we to understand this morning what Jesus is teaching us and revealing to us in the Gospel?
Maybe it could be stated as simply as this: maybe the point of prayer is not to get things but to get to know Someone. I'll get back to that in a minute, but let me share with you a story that has helped me better relate to the Gospel we just heard.
Back when I was living in Rome I had the blessing to be able to attend Mass on a number of occasions with Pope John Paul II the Great in his private chapel. This was a very small setting, with only 20 or so people in it, and I vividly remember the first time I was there for Mass. We walked through what are known as "the bronze doors" at St. Peter's very early in the morning past the Swiss Guards and up the stairs to the chapel. The men and I were all very excited to meet the Pope, and as we walked into the chapel we tried our best not to look or be too distracted by looking around at everything. I finally closed my eyes and began to pray, preparing for Mass when I heard a noise. It was a strange sound, coming from inside the chapel. It sounded like someone was sighing, or groaning, almost the sound of someone who was exhausted. It was coming, I finally realized, from the floor. And it was being made by Pope John Paul II, who was lying on the ground in deep prayer. And this is what I thought: I have never prayed like that! Clearly this man is somewhere in his talking to God that I've never been. I say a lot of words; he's talking to Someone. And it was incredibly attractive!
I share that because the Gospel starts by saying, "Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray.'" In other words, they were watching Jesus pray, just as I was watching the Pope pray, and as they saw Him and heard Him the disciples were incredibly attracted by what they saw and realized that they were more or less just saying a bunch of words, but Jesus was doing something far different. And they wanted what He had. So they asked Jesus to teach them how to do what He did. And Jesus says, "Sure." But He doesn't, then, teach them a technique, or a formula. He says simply, "When you pray, say, 'Father ..." And that one word is the whole key.
Back to what I think the point today might be, namely that the point of prayer is not to get things but to get to know Someone. If many of us are honest what we want often is a genie in a bottle, someone to grant our requests. And why? Because, well, we know what's wrong, what should be done, and therefore want our wishes granted. And the world, and my life in particular, would be much better if God would only listen to me.
What is a Christian? Well, there are many ways to answer that, certainly. But a Christian is not someone who follows a bunch of rules or a code, or who is simply trying to live a morally uplifting life. A Christian, fundamentally, is someone who follows Someone, who loves Someone, who loves God and who out of love in return for all God has done for us struggles to let Him take possession of my life - all of it. But this is impossible if I don't know who I am following. And so back to Jesus' words: "Everyone who asks receives." Asks what? What is Jesus telling us to ask? The key to that question comes in the very last sentence of the Gospel we heard. "If you who are wicked know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?"
Ah, so the point has to do with the Holy Spirit. What does the Holy Spirit do? Well, among the most important things He does are these: He convinces me that I am loved by God; He helps me to experience in my life that I am not alone; He teaches me that the cross happened out of love for me to obliterate my sins and to give me freedom to choose not to live under the tyranny of sin; He shows me who God is, that He is my Father, that He is love, that I am His child and that His plan for me can be trusted and is better than my plan for me.
This sounds so simple and basic - and it is! But it is the key for the Christian life; it is everything. How do I follow Someone I don't know? How do I rely on Someone I'm not convinced has a better plan for my life that I do? I don't. "Everyone who asks receives." Let us ask the Holy Spirit in earnest this week to teach us who the Father really is.
17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 25, 2010
Year C