Homily for July 28

Homily for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Scriptures for today's Mass

Have you ever prayed for something and got just what you asked for?

Or have you ever prayed for something and didn’t get what you asked for

or worse - you got something you didn’t want at all?

I remember praying earnestly for my father

when he was diagnosed with cancer

and for my mother when a simple surgical procedure went wrong

and she was battling a persistent and serious cardiac infection.

I prayed - and God answered - but his answer wasn't the one I hoped for.

Neither of my parents survived their illness,

God called them to himself.

When it comes to calling on God in prayer, priests, just like you

often get a busy signal on God's phone

or God's phone rings and rings and rings -

and it doesn't even switch over to voice mail.

Or so it seems, when God's slow to respond,

or when God's answer just ain't the one you were praying for.

Sometimes when we pray, we try to bargain with God:

Lord, if you grant me this, I promise I'll never again (fill in the blank).

We go back and forth with God, like Abraham in the first reading.

But that story isn't so much about getting what you pray for

as it is about persistent familiarity with God in prayer.

And if nothing else, Abraham was persistent!

Jesus invites us to the same thing in the gospel today,

urging us to petition God just as we might badger a good friend --

and to trust that God, like a good mother or a good father,

would never give his children anything bad or harmful

but will always give us the power of his Spirit

to help us through whatever hard times we face.

As true as I know these teachings of Jesus to be,

I also know the pain (my own and others’)

the pain of suffering through bad and harmful circumstances,

the pain of praying persistently for something good,

something not for myself but for others

but NOT having that earnest request answered as I had hoped,

as I had pleaded - as I had prayed.

When you're praying for a loved one to get well and that person dies,

it's easy to feel like you got a snake for a fish - or a scorpion for an egg.

It’s hard to understand why an all-powerful God doesn’t act,

doesn’t intervene as we pray he will

especially when times are tough and what we’re praying for

is something good  --  even selfless.

Now, I have no inside info on the mind of God,

on how and why God chooses to respond to our prayer as he does.

But there is something to be said about how we pray,

how we understand prayer.

Not long ago I read this short description of prayer:

Prayer is the place where we sort out our desires

and where we ourselves are sorted out

by the desires we choose to follow…*

That's true, isn't it.

So often what we bring to prayer is what we want,

what we wish for, what we hope for, what we long for,

what we believe we need - what we desire.

And prayer is a place to sort out those desires.

• Sorting things out…

Do you have any things in your life in need of sorting out?

I know I do.  And sometimes that's easy.

It's easy to sort out desires I have to admit aren't good for me,

desires that might be foolish or even bad or harmful,

desires I know God would never want to be part of.

• And prayer can help me sort out,

can help me prioritize my desires.

There might be something I really want to pray for today

but when I do, it becomes clear to me

that there lots of OTHER things I could be praying for,

things much more important

than what's on my wish list right now.

• And prayer can help us see

that sometimes we ask God for things

that we ought to be working on from our own resources.

Sometimes we pray for God to do all the heavy lifting

just to make things easier for ourselves.

Prayer is the place where we sort out our desires

AND where we ourselves are SORTED OUT

by the desires we choose to follow.*

• Prayer is meant to be a meeting with the Lord

where Jesus serves, not as Santa Claus,

bringing me everything I want for Christmas

but where Jesus serves as my mentor, my guide, my life-coach,

helping me sort through my desires

and helping me make good choices and decisions.

• You can see how this is a whole lot more serious

than just telling God what I want

and throwing in 3 Hail Mary's for good measure!

• This kind of prayer invites me to sit down with Jesus, regularly,

to ask him to help me sort through my desires

and to ask him to help me see

how my desires and my pursuit of them are shaping my life.

• In this kind of prayer, it's less my asking the Lord for things

and more my praying, "Lord, what do you want from me?"

It's not so much bringing my desires to Jesus

as much as it is listening for Jesus to say,

"Here's what I want from you!"

• So, if you've got some sorting out to do,

if you've got some desires, some needs, some wants

that need sorting out - bring them to prayer.

Consider what would happen, if in your prayer you said,

"Lord, show me what will make me truly happy

and give me what I need to walk in that direction."

• Got some problems, some relationships, some confusion

in need of sorting out?  Bring that to prayer.

Consider what would happen, if in your prayer you said,

"Jesus help me desire only those things

that will make of me a better human being."

• If you need to sort out how your desires, decisions and choices

are shaping you and your happiness - bring that to prayer.

Consider what would happen if in your prayer you asked,

"Jesus, help me see clearly the forces and the subtleties

that are molding me into the person I'm becoming.

And give me the strength to resist what doesn't help me

and the wisdom to accept what I'd rather avoid."

We all do this kind of sorting out.

when we do it with the Lord - it's PRAYER!

If we understood and approached prayer in this way,

we might better understand what Jesus means when he says,

“Everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds;

and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

What are our desires?  What are we asking for in our prayer?

What are we seeking?  How does what we seek shape our lives?

What doors do we pray will be opened for us?

• We've all come here today to pray.

Even those of us who think we don't know how to pray

have come here with something to pray for.

• This is a great place for “sorting out" our desires

and for opening up our minds and hearts to Jesus,

inviting him to help us sort through our lives

and find and nurture what's best in us.

• Imagine how different would be our family life

if each of us were asking Jesus to help us sort out, every day,

the desires that shape us and the decisions we make.

• Imagine how different our parish would be

if each of us were listening for our neighbors

knocking at our doors,

ready to generously offer them what they need.

• And imagine how different would be the town of Belmont

if each of us were asking Jesus to shape our lives

with the desire for only what's good and true and loving.

Prayer is the place where we sort out our desires

and where we ourselves are sorted out

by the desires we choose to follow…

Pray with me that the power of God's word

will bring us to prayer

and that the sacrament of this altar

will strengthen us

to sort out our desires in prayer

and lead us deeper into the life and love of Jesus.

*Ann and Barry Ulanov in:

Primary Speech: a Psychology of Prayer

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