REFLECTION FOR THE 17TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME. “Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me”. Though we be ‘but dust and ashes’ we can presume to draw near and speak boldly to our Lord as Abraham dares in this Sunday’s first reading. However, even Abraham the friend of God, our father in the faith did not know the intimacy that we know as children of Abraham, heirs of the blessings promised to his descendants. The mystery of prayer, as Jesus reveals to His disciples in this Sunday’s Gospel, is the living relationship of beloved sons and daughters with their heavenly Father. Our prayer is pure gift, made possible by the “good gift” of the Father, the Spirit of His Son. It is the fruit of the new covenant by which we are made children of God in Christ (Rom 8:1-16). Prayer is a lovely and intimate dialogue or conversation with our Father who loves us (His Sons and daughters) unconditionally. Through the Spirit given to us in baptism, we cry to Him as our Father, knowing that when we call, He will answer. Jesus teaches his disciples to persist in their prayer, as Abraham persisted in begging God’s mercy for the innocent of Sodom and Gomorrah. Let us never lost heart and faith to call on Him in prayer in the midst of our personal, social and family problems and struggles of whatever kind they might be. Our struggles and tribulations may seem impossible and difficult, but in prayer and faith, nothing is impossible with God. God never deserts; He intervenes just for the sake of that little will of love and persistence. For the sake of the one just man, Jesus, God spared the city of man from destruction “obliterating the bond against us”, as St. Paul retorts in his proclamation to the Colossians. On the cross, Jesus bore the guilt of us all, cancelled the debt we owed to God. We pray always the prayer of thanksgiving, which is the literal meaning of ‘Eucharist’, thus, in today’s Eucharist, we have already realized the promise of this Sunday’s psalm: “Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me”. Eucharist is the highest prayer, that the church as the community of believers offers to God, in petition, thanksgiving and supplication. In confidence, hope and faith we ask, knowing that we will receive, that He, the Lord will bring to completion what He has done for/to us – raising us from the dead, bringing us to everlasting life along with Him, through Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior, Amen! Have a prayer-full Sunday. Rev. Fr. Augustine, OSA.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Jul 2013 18:11:39 +0000
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