Sunday Gospel Comment

In today’s Gospel, Luke invites us to look at our prayer life and lift it to new unexplored highs.  As an astute story-teller he says to us: Jesus can give your Christian prayer a new setting and horizon, a new conviction and intensity, a new intimacy and persistence.  From the start let’s accept that prayer is a basic human need.  It’s not simply a matter of saying prayers, good and powerful though these may be.  Prayer is a “way”, a way of life, implying an orientation of our whole life to God: from him we come, in him we live and move and Have our being, just as fish swim in a sea; to him we submit through a life-long response: in grateful love and service, in filial trust and joyful intimacy, aware that God is unbelievably rich in mercy.  I

In the Old Testament Bible, God is often referred to as a Father, who establishes his covenant with his people; Isaiah even speaks of God as a mother cherishing her baby, to present God’s everlasting and unconditional love.  But Jesus’ teaching goes even deeper in establishing God’s intimacy with us and ours with Him.  Indeed, Christian prayer cannot be understood, unless it is seen as part of the mystery of the Incarnation.  Amazing as it will always seem, God has chosen - out of his infinite condescension and love for us all - to send his only Son.  And with Him, in Him and through his amazing cross and resurrection, we have been let in a wonderful deal of dignity and intimacy with God.  Christian prayer starts right here, as we respond to his offer of love.  When we pray, we - one by one - become aware of our dignity in Christ and respond and express our amazement: what can I say?  What does it make me feel?  Thank you.  Lord.

 Lord (Kyrie), teach us to pray

In today’s reading, Luke gives the setting where people ask Jesus to teach them how to pray: they call him “Lord”, a word that in its original Greek language spells out for us who Jesus really is: the Risen Lord, Kyrios, a word that at times we use at Mass when we sing “Kyrie, eleison = Lord have mercy”.  Luke is already implying that we should go beyond the Gospel story and realise that it is the very Son of God, the Risen Lord who teaches us how to pray and to trust in God, when we pray. 

But there is more: we now call ourselves disciples of Christ, this means that - since we were baptised - we have been fully introduced into the sacramental life of the Church.  In it now, we enjoy fully our Christian dignity, united to our Lord as we are, as members to a body; and we form the Body of Christ.  Through Baptism, we now are children of God, united in God’s family and whatever we say or do God loves us all in Christ, our Lord.  In our liturgical prayer, Jesus leads us.  Indeed He introduces us to God through his own unique, personal, filial relationship, which is both human and divine.  Jesus unites our prayer to his own unique act of worship on Calvary, through his cross and resurrection.  Here again we discover that our God is such a gracious, intimate, loving, affectionate Father for us all!  And it is at this level that with Jesus we pray the Our Father at Mass. 

As we explore today’s Gospel, we discover that God is not a distant, far away Being, but One who is in intimate relationship of love and who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Now we appreciate the impact of each insights: if human parents know how to be good to their children, ‘how much more will our Father in heaven give us the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him’.                                           

Lesson: Today, let us give ourselves time to re-read, slowly and with understanding, Luke’s story about Jesus our Lord who teaches us how to pray and feel close to God, through Christ in the Spirit and thus experience peace, resting in the Lord.