Persistent Knocking, Seeking, Finding

In today’s Gospel,  Luke 11:5-13, Jesus challenges us to be persistent in our praying. He gives the example of a person who, at midnight, goes to his friend’s house asking for bread to share with one of his friends who, unexpectedly, it seems, arrived at his house at midnight.  “I have nothing to offer him,” he says.  Imagine this friend refusing to give him anything, saying “Do not bother me; the door has already been locked and my children and I are already in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.”  But the needy friend is persistent and keeps knocking.  Jesus suggests that it may not be the friendship that prompts the positive response but the persistence. How persistent am I when I ask God for a favor?

More confusing, perhaps, to the person who has prayed and prayed and prayed and nothing, supposedly, happened is Jesus’ next statement:  “…ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”  So how does one explain this to someone whose prayers seem to go unanswered?

When I was a teenager, I prayed and prayed and prayed that my mother would not die and she did! I still do not have an answer to why God allowed a mother of six children to die of cancer when four of those children were still in grade school. I went through some very trying times, as her death was followed by other family tragedies with no one able to empathize with me, as they had not known such tragedies in their own lives.  Battling an onslaught of anxiety and panic attacks and having fallen into a deep depression during those difficult years, I learned to pray as a child—even had temper tantrums with God, expressing my anger toward Him. God confided to me that it was not He who had trouble with my anger but that I was the one who was bothered by it.  God and I grew very close, as He opened His arms and heart to me in overwhelming ways throughout the years, as I became more and more honest with Him about my feelings and what I was thinking and what I needed from Him that no one else could possibly give me. Yes, I learned to trust the Lord and rely upon Him. I would not trade that relationship with anything in the world!  God, I believed, answered my prayer as my mother intercedes for me and my siblings in ways that have produced miracles in all of our lives.

The Lord's Prayer and Ours

In today’s Gospel, the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray as John taught his disciples to pray.  Jesus tells them to say “our Father, who art in heaven”.  He is asking us to go to God in prayer as a child would go to a loving, caring, understanding parent, one’s dad, or, in some cases, a surrogate father.  For some children that is a teacher, a coach, a counselor one regards with great trust.    “My Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name.”  As a child proudly speaks the name of his/her loving, caring, compassionate and wise father, or surrogate father, so, too, Jesus asks us to address God as a Father whom we highly respect, whose judgment and wisdom, love and concern, we highly revere.   “Your Kingdom come; your will be done on earth as in heaven.”  Jesus encourages us to approach God desiring that things happen in our lives according to the way God plans them to be. In Jeremiah 29:11, God says to us through the prophet: “For I know the plans I have for you.  They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”  From that faith, we pray: “Your will be done on earth as in heaven.”

In the second half of the Our Father, Jesus turns our attention to relationships with others and to our own need for our “daily bread,”  forgiveness, not being led into “temptation”  and deliverance  from evil. For what more can we ask! And we know that God is eager to answer this prayer, as eager as any parent is to protect his/her children from evil, to ward off temptation that will lead a child onto the wrong path—a path that will lead to misery, suffering and pain—and to provide the child his/her daily bread for the day, that is, all that the child needs to realize his/her potential, his/her greatness, his/her ability to make a difference in the lives of others, to bring peace, justice, love and forgiveness to the world that day, one person at a time, including oneself. 

Projecting our Problems onto Another

In today’s Gospel, Luke 10: 38-42, Jesus gently rebukes his friend Martha.  Martha is upset that her sister Mary is not helping her. She states that she is “burdened with  much serving” while Mary sits at Jesus’ feet listening to His every word.  Note how Martha addresses Jesus. She says to Him:  “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?  Tell her to help me.”  Truthfully, Jesus does not care.  It was Martha who cared that her sister was not helping her.  Martha was upset with Mary, not Jesus.  Martha is projecting her personal concerns upon the Lord. Consciously or unconsciously, she wants Jesus to rescue her. Wisely, Jesus challenges Martha to look at her own behaviors and take responsibility for them.  Mary is not her problem.  Her problem exists within her because of the messages she may be giving herself, namely: “Mary should be helping me.” Or “it’s awful that Mary is sitting at Jesus’ feet and not moving a finger to give me a lift.”    Whenever we “should” others or ourselves or “awfulize” a situation, we will experience anger. Martha could have said many others things to herself that would not have triggered negative feelings. For instance, she could have said:  “I’m glad Mary is sitting with Jesus; I don’t have time right now.”  Or “I have a lot to do but I will manage just fine.”  She also could have asked Mary directly to give her a hand while allowing her the freedom of accepting  or declining the invitation.  Taking responsibility and expressing her needs while allowing Mary to option to say “yes” or “no” would have built Martha’s  self-esteem and self-confidence, not  wear it down.

In what ways to I fall into Martha’s trap of complaining about another, feeling sorry for myself and wanting another to rescue me? When do I project my problems onto another?

Jonah's Lesson

In today’s first reading, Jonah 1: 1-2: 2, 11, we read about Jonah running away from the Lord, who had commissioned him to go to Nineveh,  to “preach against it” because “their wickedness has come up before me.”  Jonah connects with a ship going to Tarshish in an effort to escape the Lord’s will.  A violent storm erupts and the ship is about to sink.  The crew is frantic. Jonah is sound asleep in “the hold of the ship.”  He knows why the storm has erupted and admits to running from the Lord.  To save everyone, the crew tosses Jonah off the ship. Everything calms down. Jonah is swallowed up by a whale for three days and three night.  At God’s commands, the whale coughs him up on the shore of Nineveh!  God’s will prevails! We really do not escape carrying out God’s commands, though we may certainly attempt to do so. 

The United States of America, our elected government officials,   our family members, our law enforcement, our judges, our public servants,  those who commit violent crimes, those who follow corrupt policies, those attempting to obliterate God from public venues, from family  or personal lives, those who serve other gods or no-gods will not succeed in running away from God anymore than Jonah did. 

Like Jonah, who knew why the sea had become so turbulent, so, too, we know the source of turbulence in our lives. Like Jonah, we know when we are turning against our God or running away from what God is asking of us.  And just as the crew on that ship sensed that someone on that ship was the cause of the tempest that arose on the sea, so, too, do people around us know when we are off course and not in sync with our God.  Do we have the courage of Jonah and of the ship’s crew to admit the truth and get back on course?

Enduring Joy

In the  first reading of today’s liturgy, Baruch 4: 5-12, 27-29,  Baruch tells the people not to fear but to remember that the reason that they were conquered by other nations was that they had abandoned the covenant God made with them.  This did not happen, Baruch tells them, because God wanted them to be destroyed, but that they had provoked God by sacrificing to “demons, to no-gods; you forsook the Eternal God who nourished you, and you grieved Jerusalem who fostered you.”  Further on in the reading,  the holy city of Jerusalem—where God dwelt, as God dwells in our Tabernacles--says that with “joy I fostered them; but with mourning and lament I let them go.”

I could not help but think of the times the Lord is directing us and we simply ignore the Spirit’s direction and do our own thing. “With joy,” God says, “I fostered them; but with mourning and lament I let them go.”  God deeply respects our free will and does not ever force us to embrace His will.  God lets us  go to experience the emptiness, if you will, or the frustration of not having followed the way to which God was calling us. It may be as simple as calling a friend, reaching out to someone we slighted and saying “I’m sorry,”  spending some leisure time in the evening with family or community members, listening with an open mind and heart or taking time to study the Scriptures or to do some substantive reading that nurtures our spiritual lives. Or, it may be more serious, like not getting involved with the wrong crowd that leads us into selfish pursuits  or that leads us into violating the rights of another person or of doing that which violates our own personal integrity.  Baruch says to us, then:  “As your hearts have been disposed to stray from God turn now ten times the more to seek him; for he who has brought disaster [frustration, emptiness, pain] upon you will, in saving you, bring you back enduring joy.”

Sharing our Goodness

In today's first reading, Nehemiah  8: 1-4a, 5-6, 7b-12,  Ezra, a priest and a teacher, assembles all of the people to a renewal of their commitment to the one, true God, to learn the meaning of the Torah--the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures or the Old Testament--to worship God and share their goodness with each other.  From daybreak until midday they listen attentively to Ezra.  From the Chosen People--and we, too, are chosen, especially blessed members of the New Covenant that God has made with us through Christ Jesus--we learn the importance of setting time aside to be taught, to listen to God's Word, to worship and share our goodness with each other.  What excuses do I make to avoid doing so or to what extremes do I go to reduce the time I set aside for God alone, for communal worship, for sharing my faith and goodness with other parishioners, family members or members of my religious community?  "I'm too busy!" "Why do I have to go to Church on Sunday; I worship God privately!" "I don't believe in this religion stuff!"  "I'm fine the way I am; don't bother me. Leave me alone."  "Mind your own business and I will mind mine."  Any of those sound familiar?

"Rejoicing in the Lord must be your strength," the prophet Nehemiah tells the people.  May we, too, experience the strength of rejoicing in the Lord in communion with fellow worshippers who gather each weekend to keep holy the Lord's day and, many of whom, gather for daily worship as well.

God's Favoring Hand Is Upon Me

Today is the feast of our Guardian Angels.  Imagine or put your arms around this fact, if you can, that 24/7 God has assigned an angel to guard and protect us from evil, to guide us to the path that is right for us and equip us with the strength we need to make right choices.  Those of us raised Catholic probably can recall holy cards with the guardian angel walking behind us with his/her wings enfolding us.  That is our God's benevolent protection and loving care! 

We see God's benevolent protection of the prophet Nehemiah in today's first reading, Nehemiah 1: 1-8 and the role that Nehemiah takes in realizing God's protection.   Nehemiah approaches  the king, who is concerned that he seems so sad.  "How can I not be sad," Nehemiah says to the king, "when 'the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been eaten out by fire'"?    Nehemiah requests to be allowed to go to Judah to rebuild his ancestor's graves and that the king provide letters  that he can show to "the governors   of  West-of-Euphrates" for his safe passing  and for "Asaph, the keeper of the royal park," so that he can get wood for "timbering the gates of the temple-citadel and for the city wall and the house that I shall occupy." Nehemiah knows that God's "favoring hand" is upon him, so he neither couches from this formidable task or from approaching the king for his protection.

What am I feeling today and what is the source of that feeling?  Is there something today that I need to rebuild? And if so, whose support do I need and what do I need in order to be prepared and protected to accomplish that task?  Do I, like Nehemiah, realize that God's "favoring hand" is upon me?