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Homily for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Scriptures for today's Mass
Have you ever wondered what God does
with all the prayers offered up for sports teams
- especially at the end of a season
when titles and trophies are on the line?
Does anyone really believe that God chooses to have a hand
in deciding who wins the World Series?
That God might take a side and give an edge
to either the Nationals or the Astros?
(At least in 2019 God is spared the doubleheader
of a presidential election following the Series!)
People ask me all the time to pray for them,
to join them in their prayer for themselves,
for members of their families, for their friends
and for particular needs.
And I do, indeed, pray for them.
I lift them up in prayer to God,
joining my prayers to theirs.
In that sense,
I suppose I'm a bit like Aaron or Hur in today's first reading
where they serve as support for Moses
as he holds his staff in his hands,
his hands aloft in prayer to God...
And I know that many of you pray for others, too,
lifting up in prayer the ones you love,
the ones whose own arms of prayer may have grown weary.
And sometimes there comes a healing, a recovery, a reconciliation,
a job, a decision or a turn of events
just as we'd been praying for...
But sometimes,
in spite of Jesus saying the answer will come speedily
(that’s on his time, not ours)
sometimes the answer to our prayer seems not to come at all
or it isn't the answer we wanted,
or it's so long in coming that we begin to think it never will.
And then we may be temped to think that God hasn’t heard us,
or has forgotten us, or is simply ignoring our prayer.
When that happens, some people give up on prayer -
and some even give up on God
or they give up hope of God reaching out to help them...
But my experience as a priest tells me that most folks don’t give up.
Most of you don’t give up on prayer.
Most people continue to believe and to pray,
most people persevere in prayer,
seeking God’s help again the next time they're in need
whether their last prayer was answered as they hoped - or not.
Are we foolish in seeking again the help of God
who so often seems - not to help?
No. We’re not foolish.
We’ve come to realize, to understand, to accept
that when we turn to God in prayer
- especially when our needs are most acute -
that the greatest benefit of prayer is the assurance
that we have a place to turn to,
someone to go to,
especially when it seems there’s no place to turn
and no one to help us.
When we were children, we lifted our arms to adults
to fix our broken toys,
to put a band-aid on a skinned knee
and to mend our broken hearts and shattered dreams.
There were times when mom or dad, or others,
did indeed fix what was broken -
but sometimes they couldn't.
But that didn’t keep us from going back to them
again and again and again
with the next broken toy needed fixing
or newly bruised feelings needed understanding
and consolation and comfort...
We kept going back to them because we knew
that even if our parents couldn’t fix what was broken,
they’d be there for us, and hold us,
and comfort us and grieve with us
whatever the brokenness might be
- even in times when they couldn't make things better
and especially in times when we already knew that...
And so it is with God and us.
I don’t know why God,
who could do anything and everything -
so often doesn't.
I do know that we need to remember
that the purpose of prayer,
the purpose of all prayer,
is not to get what we want or even what we need,
much less to move or change God's mind -
but rather, the primary purpose of prayer
is to draw us into a closer relationship
with the One to whom we turn in prayer,
to God...
We often hear parents say how they wish they could take away
their children’s hurt and brokenness and make it their own.
Jesus says –and did – the very same thing.
The Lord is no stranger to our brokenness and our pain
and, on the cross, he took all of our hurt on his shoulders
- and made it his own.
And in his moment of most acute need
he cried out to God - who seemed to be abandoning him -
and no answer came,
no answer beyond the inscrutable silence of God...
At least no answer came until after Christ abandoned himself,
abandoned himself to his Father’s will
- and into his Father’s arms.
The greater the need, the more painful the brokenness
and the more fervently we pray for the Lord’s help
the more we need to trust
that the one answer that will always come, without fail,
is God’s voice saying, like a loving mother, like a loving father,
“I’m here… I won’t leave you... I’m with you… always...”
God might not always answer our prayers as we'd like
but without fail he will be there with us and for us
to see us through our times of need.
The best gift prayer has to offer us
is not so much the granting of our desire
as it is the opportunity to grow in our relationship with God
not because God will always fix things for us,
but because he faithfully walks with us in our brokenness.
For whom are you praying today?
For what are you praying today?
Be sure that the Lord hears your prayer loud and clear -
and that he understands your needs and wants
even better than you understand them yourself.
And, like Aaron and Hur, all your brothers and sisters here today
want to support your arms, lifted in prayer
and they look to you to lift their arms, too,
for we all, from time to time, grow weary in prayer
and need one another's help.
We're about to break the bread which the Lord will make his body,
broken for us that we might remember and know
that he is here… that he is with us…
that he will not abandon us…
May Christ broken once for us on the Cross
and broken again for us here in the bread of this altar
may Christ heal the brokenness we bring to his table today
and draw us deeper into his love.
with all the prayers offered up for sports teams
- especially at the end of a season
when titles and trophies are on the line?
Does anyone really believe that God chooses to have a hand
in deciding who wins the World Series?
That God might take a side and give an edge
to either the Nationals or the Astros?
(At least in 2019 God is spared the doubleheader
of a presidential election following the Series!)
People ask me all the time to pray for them,
to join them in their prayer for themselves,
for members of their families, for their friends
and for particular needs.
And I do, indeed, pray for them.
I lift them up in prayer to God,
joining my prayers to theirs.
In that sense,
I suppose I'm a bit like Aaron or Hur in today's first reading
where they serve as support for Moses
as he holds his staff in his hands,
his hands aloft in prayer to God...
And I know that many of you pray for others, too,
lifting up in prayer the ones you love,
the ones whose own arms of prayer may have grown weary.
And sometimes there comes a healing, a recovery, a reconciliation,
a job, a decision or a turn of events
just as we'd been praying for...
But sometimes,
in spite of Jesus saying the answer will come speedily
(that’s on his time, not ours)
sometimes the answer to our prayer seems not to come at all
or it isn't the answer we wanted,
or it's so long in coming that we begin to think it never will.
And then we may be temped to think that God hasn’t heard us,
or has forgotten us, or is simply ignoring our prayer.
When that happens, some people give up on prayer -
and some even give up on God
or they give up hope of God reaching out to help them...
But my experience as a priest tells me that most folks don’t give up.
Most of you don’t give up on prayer.
Most people continue to believe and to pray,
most people persevere in prayer,
seeking God’s help again the next time they're in need
whether their last prayer was answered as they hoped - or not.
Are we foolish in seeking again the help of God
who so often seems - not to help?
No. We’re not foolish.
We’ve come to realize, to understand, to accept
that when we turn to God in prayer
- especially when our needs are most acute -
that the greatest benefit of prayer is the assurance
that we have a place to turn to,
someone to go to,
especially when it seems there’s no place to turn
and no one to help us.
When we were children, we lifted our arms to adults
to fix our broken toys,
to put a band-aid on a skinned knee
and to mend our broken hearts and shattered dreams.
There were times when mom or dad, or others,
did indeed fix what was broken -
but sometimes they couldn't.
But that didn’t keep us from going back to them
again and again and again
with the next broken toy needed fixing
or newly bruised feelings needed understanding
and consolation and comfort...
We kept going back to them because we knew
that even if our parents couldn’t fix what was broken,
they’d be there for us, and hold us,
and comfort us and grieve with us
whatever the brokenness might be
- even in times when they couldn't make things better
and especially in times when we already knew that...
And so it is with God and us.
I don’t know why God,
who could do anything and everything -
so often doesn't.
I do know that we need to remember
that the purpose of prayer,
the purpose of all prayer,
is not to get what we want or even what we need,
much less to move or change God's mind -
but rather, the primary purpose of prayer
is to draw us into a closer relationship
with the One to whom we turn in prayer,
to God...
We often hear parents say how they wish they could take away
their children’s hurt and brokenness and make it their own.
Jesus says –and did – the very same thing.
The Lord is no stranger to our brokenness and our pain
and, on the cross, he took all of our hurt on his shoulders
- and made it his own.
And in his moment of most acute need
he cried out to God - who seemed to be abandoning him -
and no answer came,
no answer beyond the inscrutable silence of God...
At least no answer came until after Christ abandoned himself,
abandoned himself to his Father’s will
- and into his Father’s arms.
The greater the need, the more painful the brokenness
and the more fervently we pray for the Lord’s help
the more we need to trust
that the one answer that will always come, without fail,
is God’s voice saying, like a loving mother, like a loving father,
“I’m here… I won’t leave you... I’m with you… always...”
God might not always answer our prayers as we'd like
but without fail he will be there with us and for us
to see us through our times of need.
The best gift prayer has to offer us
is not so much the granting of our desire
as it is the opportunity to grow in our relationship with God
not because God will always fix things for us,
but because he faithfully walks with us in our brokenness.
For whom are you praying today?
For what are you praying today?
Be sure that the Lord hears your prayer loud and clear -
and that he understands your needs and wants
even better than you understand them yourself.
And, like Aaron and Hur, all your brothers and sisters here today
want to support your arms, lifted in prayer
and they look to you to lift their arms, too,
for we all, from time to time, grow weary in prayer
and need one another's help.
We're about to break the bread which the Lord will make his body,
broken for us that we might remember and know
that he is here… that he is with us…
that he will not abandon us…
May Christ broken once for us on the Cross
and broken again for us here in the bread of this altar
may Christ heal the brokenness we bring to his table today
and draw us deeper into his love.
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