17th Sunday of Ordinary Times
But what is prayer?
The Bible urges us to pray always, to thank God in all the situations of our life (1 Thes. 5:17-18). But what is prayer? When should we pray? How and why should we pray? The first reading and the Gospel gives us answers to these questions. We pray so that we may see the world, people and history as God sees them. We need to purify our hearts and this can only happen in prayer. The second reading tells us what the Christian is. A Christian is one who, through baptism, has become a part of the body of Christ. Being in Christ, the disciple prays like him.
The more important reason to pray is to build a relationship with God. Relationships cannot exist without communication. We could safely say the quality of our relationship with someone depends on the quality of our communication with them. Prayer is an expression of our faith. When we enter into prayer, we are entering into a dialogue as Abraham did. We tell God what we would like, yet at the same time we recognize God is the one who has the last word, not us. That last word is our eternal happiness.
Jesus said, “Ask and you will receive.” What he is saying is that no prayer is wasted. Prayer cannot fail to bring some blessing, even if it’s not the thing we think we need most, or even when we do not see immediate results, God has something better in mind. Don’t ever quit praying no matter what. It will always bring you great blessing and most important, it will bring you to a deeper relationship with God. Pope Francis notes, “All is not lost..” Pointing to the wisdom of St. Therese of the Little flower, he reminds us, “All it takes is one good person to restore hope.” Do you have a daily prayer time and do you persevere in it? Fight your battles through prayers, and win your battles through faith. Stay strong no matter how many ups and downs you go through.
