Teach Us to Pray (17th Sunday Ordinary C)

Many people today do not pray. The commonest reason perhaps is this: “I’m too busy.” There are just too many concerns and demands from work and too little time. Another reason is from the restless young people: “Prayer is boring. We want adventure.” Perhaps those who used to pray but have experienced some unanswered prayer would say: “I’m tired of praying. Prayer doesn’t work.” Those who believe in the Omniscience of God assume that God knows their needs. So there’s no need to pray; God provides anyway. And those who have an “I-did-it-my-way” complex assert their independence and self-sufficiency. For them, to bend one’s knees in prayer is a sign of weakness. Still others do not pray simply because they don’t know how.

Whatever our reasons for not praying are, we need to realize, as the gospel reading today (Lk 11:1-13) reminds us, that Jesus Himself, the Son of God, the Anointed One, the Savior of the world, always found time to be alone in prayer. Jesus believed in the power of prayer and saw its utmost importance as an integral part of his life and mission. Hence, he taught his disciples how to pray.

In Jesus’ teachings on prayer in the gospel reading today and in Abraham’s persistent haggling with God in the first reading, we can discern some forms of prayer and some essential inner dispositions that we ought to consider for the growth of our prayer life.

Praise and Worship. The “Lord’s Prayer” may be seen as having two parts. The first part consists of praising and worshiping God as our Father whose name we glorify and whose reign we desire in our lives. As our Father, He is acknowledged as the source of what we have and are. We accept his sovereignty in heaven and on earth. Jesus himself had always submitted to the will of the Father. His life was a constant praise and worship of the Father.

Don’t we have our own reasons for praising and worshipping God, our Father? When we honestly take account of our blessings in life, it would be but a natural overflow of joy, gratitude and awe that we praise and worship the Lord. I’ve seen and joined some faithful who dance and sing with gusto their praises to the Almighty and All-loving God. It has always been an exhilarating experience, far from being boring.

Petition. The second half of the prayer of Jesus is focused on our needs. We call them petitions. We ask for our present needs, our daily bread. We ask for forgiveness of our past--our debts, trespasses, and forms of sinfulness as we commit to be forgiving to others too. And we ask to ensure our future with God by our deliverance from the evil one. In this prayer, we acknowledge that our present, past, and future depend on the graciousness and mercy of God.

Intercession. When our petitions go beyond our own needs and express the needs of others, we are offering intercessory prayers. We pray on behalf of others. We find ourselves doing this because we care for others. We are a community. We are one family. We have a common Father in heaven. The first reading (Gen 18:20-32), for instance, recounts how Abraham interceded for the people of Sodom. He persistently haggled with God, trying to save the sinful people from the impending destruction. The story shows that God actively listens to Abraham’s intercession.

A good model of petition and intercession is Pope Francis’ simple method of prayer using one's fingers:

"The thumb is the closest finger to you. So start praying for those who are closest to you. They are the persons easiest to remember. To pray for our dear ones is a “sweet obligation.”

“The next finger is the index. Pray for those who teach you, instruct you and heal you. They need the support and wisdom to show direction to others. Always keep them in your prayers.”

“The following finger is the tallest. It reminds us of our leaders, the governors and those who have authority. They need God’s guidance.”

“The fourth finger is the ring finger. Even that it may surprise you, it is our weakest finger. It should remind us to pray for the weakest, the sick or those plagued by problems. They need your prayers.”

“And finally we have our smallest finger, the smallest of all. Your pinkie should remind you to pray for yourself. When you are done praying for the other four groups, you will be able to see your own needs but in the proper perspective, and also you will be able to pray for your own needs in a better way."

Persistent Disposition. The parable of the importunate friend in today’s gospel highlights an important disposition in prayer: Persistence. Not that God requires to be badgered before He listens to our cries, but that our perseverance reveals the true desire of our hearts. We desire many things and many of which are not essential. Only that which is truly essential keeps us motivated and persevering. As we persevere in prayer, we realize that it is God himself, not just his blessings, that our heart yearns. This yearning cannot be turned down by a God who has yearned for us first and foremost.

Trust in God. Another essential disposition in prayer is trust in the goodness and wisdom of God. God is our Father; He is all-good and all-wise. If a sinful earthly father can still be trusted to provide good things to his children, how much more is the heavenly Father worthy of our total trust? When we pray then, we are entrusting our heart’s desire to the care of our loving and wise Father. I think this disposition of trust is what made Mother Teresa assert: “Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God…”

If still we don’t find ourselves drawn to prayer, let us make just one humble petition: Lord, teach us to pray.

The Better Part (16th Sunday Ordinary C)

Today’s Gospel (Luke 10:38–42) brings us into the warm and familiar home of two sisters: Martha and Mary. Jesus, their beloved friend, comes to visit, and like any of us welcoming a guest—especially someone as special as the Lord!—there’s excitement, preparation, and, yes, a bit of stress. We can picture Martha bustling about: checking the bread, stirring the pot, setting the table. And Mary? She’s doing something unexpected… she's just sitting there—at Jesus’ feet—listening.

And suddenly, we find ourselves drawn into this quiet tension between action and stillness, between doing and being. Between Martha and Mary.

Listening to Jesus is our first call. The Gospel tells us that Mary “sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying” (v. 39). This wasn't laziness or avoidance. In fact, in the culture of the time, sitting at the feet of a rabbi meant something very specific—it meant being a disciple.

Mary wasn’t simply relaxing; she was learning, absorbing, contemplating. She was fully present to Jesus. And what’s so beautiful is that Jesus welcomes this. He defends her choice. That was radical in His time—and it still is.

So here’s the question for us: Are we listening to Jesus? Or are we so busy—even with good things—that we miss His voice?

In our world of constant noise, notifications, and to-do lists, this Gospel is a gentle call back to what matters most. Maybe the most loving thing we can do today is turn off our phones, open the Scriptures, sit in silence, and just be with Him.

Even good work can distract. Now, let’s be clear: Martha wasn’t doing anything wrong. She was serving! She was being responsible! But notice what Jesus says:

“Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things” (v. 41).

He doesn’t scold her for working—He lovingly points out that her worry is distracting her from what matters most. The original Greek word for “distracted” literally means “to be pulled apart.” Can anyone relate?

Sometimes we are so busy doing things for Jesus, we forget to spend time with Him. This is especially true for those in ministry, those caring for family, those working multiple jobs to make ends meet. Like Martha, we may be faithful—but also stressed out.

Jesus isn’t telling us to stop working—He’s inviting us to work from a place of peace, not panic. From communion, not compulsion.

So, choose the better part. Jesus concludes, “Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her” (v. 42).

What Mary chose wasn’t the only good thing, but it was the better thing. And what is that better part? It’s being with Jesus. It’s the eternal treasure of knowing and loving God. All our work will one day pass—but the relationship we build with Christ will last forever.

This “better part” is not about doing less—it’s about living from the center. From the heart of Christ.

We are all both Martha and Mary. And the challenge is to find the balance: to serve like Martha, yes—but to listen like Mary. To be active in the world, but rooted in prayer. To move through life not frantic and fragmented, but focused on the One Thing Necessary.

Go and Do Likewise (15th Sunday Ordinary C)

The Harvard sociologist Robert Putnam published his article, “American Grace,” revealing his discovery that the loss of community in America is counterbalanced by a social capital that is kept alive in one place more than any other—in the house of worship. His study reveals that church-goers are more likely to engage in charitable works than their secular counterpart. Those who go to church are more likely willing to do voluntary work, give donation to homeless people, donate blood, help a neighbor in need, help someone find a job, etc.

(Picture from twitter # Sendong)

This is an affirmation of the message of today’s gospel (Lk 10: 25-37) which places love at the heart of Christian ethics. The Parable of the Good Samaritan is a timeless story of everyone’s primary responsibility in love to take care of those who are in need, the neighbor.  Putnam’s study somehow reveals how the message of the parable continues to be incarnated in today’s Christian commitment to loving service in our communities.

Let us reflect more deeply on this primary responsibility to love as taught by today’s gospel reading.  Two things for our reflection: First, the primacy of love over any other law; second, the active nature of love.

Primacy of Love. The gospel reading presents a dialogue between Jesus and the scholar of the law. The conversation leads to an agreement that, according to the law, what brings eternal life is following the greatest commandments, that is, love of God and love of neighbor.  This is illustrated, then, by the parable of the Good Samaritan which effectively employs irony to bring the message across quite powerfully.

The priest and the Levite, who enjoy respectable religious status and are expected to be more loving than others, are portrayed to have fallen short of the duty to love. They have placed more importance on the laws governing ritual purity so that they avoided helping and having to touch the blood of a dying man.  They seemed to have been more concerned about their ritual functions in the temple than their duty to show mercy and love to someone in dire need.

On the other hand, the Samaritan, who is a social outcast due to religious, cultural and political reasons, is described as being readily concerned and compassionate to the robber’s victim.  The Samaritan’s act of love becomes a criticism of the misplaced priority of the ritualistic priest and Levite. Love is the greatest of all commandments.

Our religious piety is not bad as it is an integral part of our faith expression.  But it should not become our comfort zone where we feel secure as we hide from and avoid the demands of loving. Instead, an authentic piety must lead us to greater sensitivity to the neighbor’s needs and even bring joy to our commitment to the works of charity.

Love in Action.  It is one thing to know and understand what love is and its significance in our faith; it’s quite another to actually do it. Love is not so much an idea as a commitment to act.  When the scholar of the law correctly presented the two greatest commandments of love as the way to eternal life, Jesus agreed: “You have answered correctly.”  He did not stop with this simple affirmation though.  Jesus emphasized the necessity of acting according to the greatest commandments as he continued to say: “Do this and you will live” (v. 28).

The scholar of the law wished to justify himself and continued to ask Jesus: “And who is my neighbor?” It is to this question that Jesus narrated the parable of the Good Samaritan where both the priest and the Levite refused to extend their helping hand to the dying man while the Samaritan compassionately assisted him. It is important to note that Jesus, then, changed the question.  It is no longer about “who is my neighbor.” Jesus asked the scholar of his opinion that among the three “who acted as a neighbor.”

The scholar got the correct answer again of course: “The one who treated him with mercy.” And Jesus finally gave him this instruction: “Go and do likewise.” The scholar of the law was seeking understanding and knowledge, or was just testing Jesus’ wisdom; but Jesus was directing him beyond knowledge of the law. Jesus was challenging him to act according to the greatest of all laws—the law of love.

The same challenge is thrown to all of us his disciples: Go and do likewise. We easily know who our neighbor is. Any one in need is our neighbor.  But the real question is, “am I willing to act as a neighbor?”

Robert Putnam’s discovery about the availability of church-goers for charity works is an encouraging observation.  Let us make that same observation true to all the communities we belong to. Let us make the message of the parable of the Good Samaritan alive in our communities. Let us listen to Jesus instructing us, “Go and do likewise.”

The Joy in Mission (14th Sunday Ordinary C)

“New Evangelization” has, perhaps, become the catchword in Church circles over these past years when we have acknowledged this generation’s crisis of faith in many Christian countries due to the inroads of secularist and materialist way of thinking.  We recall during the Year of Faith (2012), we were exhorted by Pope Benedict XVI “to rediscover the joy of believing and the enthusiasm for communicating the faith” [PF, no. 6]. We were invited to engage in the task of evangelization with renewed joy and enthusiasm.

In one of the anniversary celebrations of the Couples for Christ held in Manila I brushed elbows with thousands of lay people swarming the Quirino Grandstand to thank God for the blessings and fruits of their mission worldwide.  I met many of the lay leaders whose all-out commitment to the work of evangelization puts me to shame. And their sense of mission to spread the gospel to “the ends of the earth” is characterized by obvious and contagious joy and enthusiasm.  Deep inside me was a growing confidence that God is, indeed, listening to the prayer of His Church for more labourers in his Kingdom. This time, God is calling and sending more from the “rank” of the laity.

Era of the Laity. Today’s gospel (Lk 10:1-12, 17-20) recounts the appointment of the seventy two disciples whom the Lord sent for the mission of proclaiming the reign of God.  Clearly the Lord sees the need, apart from the twelve apostles, for more collaborators in the mission. The work of evangelization, if it is to make a dent in today’s crisis of faith among Christian countries, cannot remain an exclusive task of the ordained ministers. In the spirit of the 2^nd Vatican Council and ensuing papal exhortations, lay apostolate ought to flourish and be propelled to rejuvenate the life of the Church. The Church, dominantly controlled by the ordained ministers, has to pave the way for lay empowerment and participation in her mission.  It must be, for the ordained, a joy to behold that the lay who have been evangelized are now themselves effective and joyful evangelizers!

Clericalism, which assigns the sole authority over almost all the aspects of ecclesial life to the rank of the ordained and sees the role of the laity in terms of the submissive stance of “paying, praying and obeying,” has to become a thing of the past. The life and mission of the Church will be blessed with abundant fruits and great harvests as we empower the lay and send them as collaborators in the work of proclaiming the reign of God.

As we pray for more workers for God’s abundant harvest (v. 2), we implore for more vocations not only for the religious and priestly ministry. This prayer should also be an ardent appeal for more committed lay collaborators who, by their joyful witnessing of God’s love and mercy, proclaim to the world that God’s reign is at hand.

The Joy of Discipleship-in-mission.  So much for the difficult and hard demands of discipleship, today’s gospel points out the joy inherent in the fulfilment of the mission of a disciple. Discipleship, even if often described as costly, difficult, not-a-walk-in-the-park commitment, is nonetheless characterized by joy.  It is not a surprise, for instance, that the list of the ten happiest jobs (according to the General Social Survey by the National Organization for Research at the University of Chicago) is topped by the clergy and followed by other service-oriented professions.  Among these professions, the least worldly are reported to be the happiest of all. The happiness is observed to be directly proportionate to the ability and opportunity to be of service—a distinctive mark of Christian discipleship.

The gospel recounts that the seventy two returned rejoicing, and said, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name” (v. 17).

The meaning of discipleship does not rest only in the act of following and in the painful learning of the discipline and teachings. It finds its fulfillment in being sent. What brings so much joy and evokes enthusiasm is the dynamic life brought about by discipleship-in-mission.  A disciple who stays in one’s comfort zone may bask in one’s security but will eventually suffer emptiness. But the one who embraces the risk in giving himself/herself to the mission will find Christian life an exciting adventure.

There is joy in being sent by the Lord. This is the joy of participating in and witnessing firsthand the fulfillment of the reign of God in our midst. This is the joy of victory, as the Lord assures a missionary that, whenever the name of Jesus is proclaimed and embraced in faith, Satan “falls like lightning from the sky” (v. 18). This is the joy of belonging to God as ultimate reward, as Jesus promises that the names of the disciples sent are written in heaven (v. 20).

In today’s context of crisis of faith, where are we sent by the Lord that we may proclaim with joy and enthusiasm the beauty of our faith? In our parochial ministries and apostolate, can we move along the direction of a joyful and enthusiastic collaboration between the pastor and the lay?