SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

27 JULY 2025

 

          The disciples of Jesus ask him to teach them how to pray.  In response, he teaches them the “Lord’s Prayer.”  It is not the Lord’s Prayer that we know so well from the Gospel of Saint Matthew.  Saint Luke’s version is shorter and centered more on the present, with God’s name hollowed, the kingdom come, the daily bread we receive now, and the forgiveness that we receive and are expected to give to others. 

            To explain this prayer, he tells the parable of a man who knocks on his neighbor’s door in the middle of the night asking for three loaves of bread.  The neighbor finally opens the door and grants his request because of his persistence.  The Greek word which Saint Luke uses is even stronger.  The neighbor complies because his friend is completely shameless.  Not even his neighbor’s resistance can stop him from asking for what he needs.

            We see this same persistence in the first reading from Genesis.  Abraham is persistent as he shamelessly begs God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah, where his nephew Lot and his wife and two children live.  Abraham knows the wickedness of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. He knows their complete lack of hospitality and their sexual offenses.  But he asks God to recognize the innocent people of Sodom and Gomorrah.  If you have ever traveled to the Middle East, you can recognize what Abraham is doing.  He begins by asking God to spare the cities if there are at least fifty innocent people.  In Middle Eastern markets, the merchant sets a large amount for a purchase.  The buyer barters with him at the lowest amount, until they come to an agreement.  When I was on my Sabbatical 25 years ago, I bought stuff at the markets in the West Bank.  I was terrible at bartering, because I viewed the process of bargaining as an angry argument.  However, another priest in our group knew exactly how to barter.  I came to realize that in their back and forth bartering, they were entering into a relationship.  Once the purchase was complete, the merchant often invited the buyer to have a cup of tea with him.

            Abraham is not bartering with God.  Instead, he enjoys an intimate relationship with God that allows him to be shameless in his speaking.  He is aware of God’s mercy, especially in God’s merciful gift of a son to him and Sarah in their old age.  In his shameless conversation, he is trying to find at least ten innocent people.  But he learns that there are only four innocent people.  In the course of speaking with God, he learns that God’s mercy is always tempered by God’s justice.  Sodom and Gomorrah must face the consequences of their inhospitality.

            Jesus encourages us to be persistent, to be shameless in asking, in seeking, and in knocking.  That is the way we need to pray.  However, we have also learned from our experience of praying that we do not always receive what we ask.  We do not always find what we seek.  The door that we keep knocking on is not always opened for us.  That is why authentic prayer demands that we remain grounded in our relationship with God and trust that our persistent and shameless prayers will eventually be granted in ways that we do not expect.

            Jesus promises that the Father gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask.  As Saint Paul reminds us, we entered the tomb of Jesus Christ when we were drowned in the waters of Baptism.  We emerged to share in his resurrection and receive that gift of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit will never disappoint us as we attempt to live the Paschal Mystery.  Just as the shameless and persistent prayer of Jesus himself in the Garden of Gethsemane was finally answered in the resurrection, we can trust that God will give to us whatever we need as we persist shamelessly in prayer.

 

 

FOURTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

6 JULY 2025

 

          Saint Paul tells the Galatians that he bears the marks of Jesus on his body.  The Latin word for marks is stigmata, the source of our English word “stigma.”  The Galatians could have understood those marks as tattoos, like those emblazoned on slaves in their day.  But Paul was never a slave.  Or they could have connected those marks as scars that soldiers bore on their bodies when they returned from war.  They were signs of wounds inflicted on them in a battle.  Certainly, Saint Paul had born wounds on his body from the stoning he received in Lystra or from the many beatings inflicted on his body.  They certainly had left a mark.  Today, some readers of Scripture interpret those marks as stigmata in his hands and feet from the wounds of Jesus on the cross, like the ones which Saint Francis or Padre Pio received. 

            We may not have tattoos or battle scars or the physical wounds of the crucified Christ on our physical bodies.  However, we have been marked in two ways.  We were marked first by the Lord Jesus when we were baptized.  The Lord wrote our names in the palm of his hand and claimed us as his own.  We were marked with the sign of the cross, which we carry throughout our lives, allowing us to drink fully from the abundant milk and goodness of the Lord.

            The second mark is one recorded in eternity.  Jesus tells the 72 disciples returning from their successful mission that they can “… rejoice because their names are written in heaven.”  In giving this mark, Jesus echoes a Jewish tradition of a ceremony on the Day of Atonement.  When families participated in this annual sacrifice, the priest would write their names in the “book of life.”  Jesus indicates something similar has happened to us.  Because we bear his mark, our names are recorded in the heavenly book of life.

            We too have received these marks, passed on over the centuries to us.  He sends 72 of his disciples out on a mission, walking two by two.  Instead of taking a lot of stuff, they are simply to proclaim peace (shalom) as a sign of the kingdom of God.  He predicts that some people will welcome this gift, while others will reject it.  As sheep in the midst of wolves, they may even be mistreated.  But his peace will remain with them.  We continue to receive that peace as a result of the mission of those original 72 disciples.

            Like those original disciples, the Lord has just spoken to us in his Word.  He will feed us with his Body and Blood.  Then we will be sent out of this Mass on the same mission.  In our parish, we already see this mission being accomplished.  Members of our Saint Vincent de Paul Society go out two by two every week to meet the needs of the poor.  They may take food.  But the more important gift is the peace of the Lord Jesus.  Our soup kitchen feeds people in the neighborhood three times a week, not just giving soup and sandwiches, but giving the peace of Jesus Christ.  Deacon Mel and I are considering the offer of 466 Works to begin building affordable houses in our neighborhood, hopefully bringing Christ’s gift of peace.

            Both the Saint Vincent de Paul Society and the soup kitchen can use more volunteers.  If our parish decides to be part of 466 Works, we will need more volunteers.  I would argue that the Lord offers these specific missions to us this morning.  Jesus gives the same message to us that he gives to the original 72: “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few.”  Whether we step forward to be part of these parish missions or not, each of us are sent from this Mass to proclaim peace and the good news that the kingdom of God is at hand.  “Peace” was the first word Jesus spoke to his disciples after the resurrection.  “Peace” was the first word of Pope Leo after he was elected.  Peace is the gift all of us can give.  We don’t need lots of stuff.  We need to convey peace through our words and actions.  Our names are written in the book of life in heaven.