Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Prayer;

We’re not informing God about anything

 

 

From Exodus we hear:

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction,
and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent,
equipped for every good work.
Paul was Timothy’s mentor for ministry. He reminds him that since his childhood he has been trained and has “known the sacred Scriptures.” Where else can we get that wisdom? Still, he insists and reminds us all, Scripture is inspired by God,” the word for “inspire” literally means, “God breathed.”

The Bible is the Word of God spoken to us through humans so that we can know God better. In other words, God did not dictate a book to a scribe who wrote each word down. Rather, God reveals through personal encounters (Moses, Abraham, the prophets etc.) and through historical events (Exodus, Nativity, the apostolic preachings).

However, the fullness of who God is and how God is revealed to us is in the life, the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. God’s eternal Word. Breathing life into God’s house is building a church community.

The support of our life’s journey in Jesus to God is the Church held up by the Ruah, the Breath of God, the Holy Spirit as we hold up one another to God.  I love the description of how Aaron and Hur supported Moses.

Moses’hands, however, grew tired; so they put a rock in place for him to sit on. Meanwhile Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other, so that his hands remained steady till sunset.”

To me it sounds like the kind of support we are offer to one another—holding up each other up in prayer constantly. It sounds like Church. God loves us so much that He gave us each other. We need a prayer community even when we are not in Church.  For example, someone has a sick child.  That person needs the support of others to stay united to God.  Or, we have just had a death in the family.  We can hardly think, let alone pray.  We need others to help us to pray to lift up our arms and hands for us to God.  We need each other.  Sometimes a friend says to another friend, “I am praying for you daily.”  This is what we do for each other in our prayer life.  We are there for each other, helping each other continue in prayer.  We hold each other’s arms up to God in love.

How many arms have been held up by the members of our parish over the past 150 years, which we celebrate this year on December 4! Our vibrant parish had very humble beginnings. On October 1,1866 the first church was in the Sheehan’s house on Oak Ave between Adams and Tainter; it was acquired by Bishop Alemany. It was an answer to prayers from a people of faith, of a community seeking Christ and the fulfillment of the mission that has responded to the needs of people hungry for God for 150 years! How blessed we are to be here at such a sacred time.

For more than 1 ½ centuries, people from different races, cultures, languages, and ages have come to this particular area to find solace, comfort, hope and joy in Christ. That journey of prayer continues in us as we gather—probably offering many of the same prayers as our mission parish founders did 150 years ago. That continuity includes proclaiming the word of God and seeking to live a life of faith in Christ—serving his mission in our parish.

That mission, Jesus tells us, must include praying always. WE know that when we pray we’re not informing God about anything God doesn’t already know or in order to have God change God’s mind.  Don’t we really pray to have an opportunity to listen to God, to take a time out and reflect on what God has been doing in our lives. We can look in that rear view mirror of our past and see God’s responses to us.

Other dynamics of prayer take place that are teaching moments from God. Have you ever noticed that when you pray for something you need—you think of others who have a greater need and your problem seems to lessen? Or have you noticed that when you pray for those suffering in hunger you begin to notice how much food you have or how much we waste?

All too often we can fail to connect that we are to be the answer to prayers to God. Like our compassionate outreach to the victims of Hurricane Matthew, our many ways we help through SVdP and Marian Visitors. Someone who is hungry needs us to share our food, someone who is lonely needs us to reach out in welcome, someone who is sick needs us to assure our prayers for them, someone who is angry needs us to offer peace; someone suffering—you get the picture.

God wants us to respond to the ways of His Son and continues to knock on our hearts to get us to listen. Wouldn’t it be nice to respond to God and say: “What would you like me to do for you God? I’ll do anything you ask.”

It is then that God will do the asking: what is it that you need to change about yourself, change about views of others, or get help to prevent those repeated mistakes, or to stand up with courage to right the wrongs that surround us. Work to eliminate our bigotry and prejudice. The good news is that when we pray God will always answer—we just need to be open to live the answer.

Blessings, Fr. Gordon