{"id":3003,"date":"2019-10-20T11:32:07","date_gmt":"2019-10-20T15:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=3003"},"modified":"2019-10-20T11:32:07","modified_gmt":"2019-10-20T15:32:07","slug":"29th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-c-homily-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/29th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-c-homily-2\/","title":{"rendered":"29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

29<\/a>th<\/a><\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C<\/a>
Exodus 17:8-13
Psalm 121:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8 (see 2)
2 Timothy 3:14-4:2
Luke 18:1-8
October 20, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus tells\nus to \u201cpray always<\/em>\u201d.  Really? \nHow can anyone pray \u201calways\u201d?  We\nhave to sleep or we will become \u201cweary<\/em>\u201d.  We have to work.  We have to eat.  How can we \u201cpray always<\/strong><\/em>\u201d? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fact that\nwhat Jesus says might seem impossible should tell us that He is trying to get\nus to think differently about what it means to pray, let alone \u201cpray always.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus\ncontinues with a parable about the woman who asked the judge to \u201cRender a just decision for me against my\nadversary.<\/em>\u201d  We are told that the\njudge doesn\u2019t care what others think and does what he wants.  The woman continually asks him for a \u201cjust decision<\/em>\u201d.  Eventually, because of her persistence, the\njudge finally gives her what she wants.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hearing this\nas a parable from Jesus, it might seem the lesson is that all we have to do to\nget what we want in prayer is to keep asking. \nIf we bother God long enough, He will give us what we want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wrong!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First of all,\nwe need to consider what the woman was asking for.  She doesn\u2019t tell the judge what decision to\nmake.  In our prayers we might often tell\nGod how we want him to fix our problems. \nWhat the woman asks for is for the judge to \u201cRender a just decision.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God wants<\/em><\/strong>\nus to bring our problems and sufferings to him in prayer.  However, the thing to think about is your\ngoal in bringing your problems to God in prayer.  Do you want to change God to get him to do\nwhat you want or are you willing to allow God to change you through\nprayer?  For instance, maybe God wants to\nhelp you redirect your life around your problems.  God doesn\u2019t change us all at once, or at\nleast we generally don\u2019t let him.  We\nneed to be persistent in prayer to keep coming back to God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, there is\na little lesson about persistence and openness in prayer.  However, so far we haven\u2019t addressed how it\nmight seem impossible to \u201cpray always<\/em>\u201d.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our first\nreading speaks of praying always.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

God had led\nthe Israelites out from Egypt into the desert. \nThey are freed from slavery but life still has its battles.  They are under attack.  Joshua leads the physical battle but the\npoint today is not the physical battle itself. \nThey will win the physical battle but how?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through\nprayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joshua leads\nthe physical battle but victory comes through God and the power of prayer<\/em><\/strong>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the\nbattle goes on, Moses is on the hill. \nHowever, he is not just a spectator, he plays a vital<\/em><\/strong> role.  He is praying.  We are not told what words he says in\nprayer.  We are told his posture in\nprayer.  He stands with his hands raised\nup, the same posture the priest takes at Mass for some of the prayers,\nincluding the Eucharistic Prayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, as the\nbattle continues, Moses becomes \u201ctired<\/em>\u201d,\nso he lets his arms down.  When he does,\nthe battle shifts and the Israelites begin to lose.  Now, the lesson here is perseverance in\nprayer.  However, that doesn\u2019t mean that\nwe need to keep our hands raised up all the time like Moses did during the\nbattle but we are called to keep turning our hearts and soul to God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes,\nlike Moses, it might be difficult to keep praying on our own.  Moses needed Aaron and Hur to support him in\nprayer.  Sometimes we need the support on\nothers in prayer.  Sometimes we are to be\nthe ones supporting others with prayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God \u201cneither slumbers nor sleeps<\/em>.  God is available 24\/7 to listen and respond\nto our prayers.  Still, what does it mean\nto pray?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prayer\ninvolves our posture, whether it be holding our hands up like Moses, lifting up\nour eyes to God as we heard in the psalm, or kneeling in humble surrender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prayer can\ninclude reading the Bible, the \u201csacred\nScriptures<\/em>\u201d that Paul reminds us is \u201cinspired\nby God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction and for\ntraining in righteousness<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prayer involves words.  It might be memorized prayer like the Our Father, the Rosary<\/a>, The Liturgy of the Hours<\/a>, or whatever our favorite devotion is.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The words can\nalso be us telling God what our battles are, what we are struggling with.  However, this shouldn\u2019t be just a list of our\ndemands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, we\npray in words and gestures, prayer is rooted in our hearts and soul.  Prayer is ultimately rooted in our\nrelationship with God.  To \u201cpray always<\/em>\u201d is just that, to keep\nourselves always rooted in God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does it\ntake to keep us rooted in God?  One hour\na week at Mass is essential but how do we keep ourselves in an attitude of\nprayer throughout the week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here, I want to turn to the life of the monks at the Abbey of the Genesee<\/a>.  They pray a lot.  How do they pray?  I mentioned before the Liturgy of the Hours<\/a>.  It has up to seven times each day praying the psalms and listening to scripture.  The monks at the Abbey<\/a> pray all seven.  Five of the times are open to the public, beginning with Vigils at 3:30 a.m. and ending with Compline at 7:30 p.m.  They also have times in the day set aside for Lectio Divina<\/a>, a form of prayer based on reading Scripture.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even the\nmonks at the Abbey do not pray in words and gestures all<\/em><\/strong> the time.  They all have assigned work each morning and\nafternoon to support the life on the monastery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, one might want to say prayer is easy for the monks since they don\u2019t have all the commitments you do for work and family.  I don\u2019t expect everyone here to pray all seven cycles of the Liturgy of the Hours<\/a> but maybe you could pray one.  Maybe you could spend a few minutes reading the Bible in a prayerful way.  Maybe it\u2019s praying the Rosary.  Maybe it is just stopping occasionally throughout the day to ask God with just a few words to be with you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I encourage you to \u201cbe persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient<\/em>\u201d in prayer and God will let you know He is with you always.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P. S. We read primarily from the Gospel of Luke this year where prayer is a major theme. If you would like to hear more about prayer, check out this video presentation, “Talking to God: A Conversation About Prayer,”<\/a> Fr. Jeff did when he was at Immaculate Conception Church. On the web page, you will also find links to information about some forms of prayer and devotions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year CExodus 17:8-13Psalm 121:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8 (see 2)2 Timothy 3:14-4:2Luke 18:1-8October 20, 2019 Jesus tells us to \u201cpray always\u201d.  Really?  How can anyone pray \u201calways\u201d?  We have to sleep or we will become \u201cweary\u201d.  We have to work.  We have to eat.  How can we \u201cpray always\u201d? The fact …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82,12],"tags":[644,645,126],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-Mr","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3003"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3003"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3006,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3003\/revisions\/3006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}