Sunday Reflections
17th Sunday of year C
Be generous and perseverant in your prayers
✠ A reading from the Holy Gospel, according to Luke 11:1-13
Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,
and do not subject us to the final test.”
And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend to whom he goes at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer him,’
and he says in reply from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children and I are already in bed.I cannot get up to give you anything.’
I tell you, if he does not get up to give the visitor the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.
“And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find;
knock, and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?
If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”
1. The readings of this Sunday emphasize the goodness of God, our Father, towards those who call on him in their distress and the need to persevere in prayer when one is going through difficult moments. Abraham is shown in the first reading (Gen 18:20-32) as one who understood the goodness of God and the brotherhood of all humans. He insistently pleaded with God to forgive the people of Sodom and Gomorrah if he could find as few as ten righteous persons among them. God patiently listened to his plea until he became unwilling to abuse God’s goodness. He was really generous in his intercession.
2. In the gospel, Jesus was shown praying, and his disciples were moved to request him to teach them how to pray. If Jesus prays, it means that prayer should be more than making requests to God. The prayer that Jesus taught them, known today as the Lord’s prayer, outlines a number of things about God, prayer, and humanity. Jesus started by addressing God as Father. He then made all the petitions in the first-person plural. Here, it is clear that for Jesus God is not just my father but our Father because all humans are brothers and sisters of the same father, the same God. Because God is our Father, we have to pray for one another. Each person prays for all and all prays for each. That is why Jesus teaches us to pray by addressing God as our Father and not as my father.
3. The second thing that today’s gospel teaches us about prayer is that for prayers to be effective, it has to be persistent and perseverant as was done by Abraham in the first reading. Jesus used the example of a friend going at night to request his friend for help. He emphasized that even if the friend initially refuses to accord him the favour on account of their friendship, he will certainly do it on account of his perseverance in disturbing him. In this way, Jesus teaches that prayer is not a one-off affair. When in need, one needs to pray until something happens. In his moment of need at Mount of Olives, Jesus prayed incessantly (Lk 22:39-46). One should not think that once a prayer is said for a problem, God becomes our debtor. Jesus teaches that God could appear indifferent until we have disturbed him to the maximum (Lk 18:1-8).
4. Jesus assures us that God may sometimes appear indifferent, but he is so good that he will not fail to give good things to those who confidently pray to him. If wicked men could give good things to their children, the good God should do more to those who trust in him. This teaches us to improve our understanding of God as a father. When God is seen as Father who wishes good to his children, we grow in our understanding of prayer as communication with a loving father who cannot give us snake when we ask for fish. This understanding helps us to persevere even when God seems not to have heard our prayer. It helps us to patiently wait for the time of his visitation, knowing that whoever asks receives and whoever seeks finds.
5. If God is our Father, you should learn to make your prayers more generous and englobing. If you see God as our Father, you must improve your relationship with others because God can only truly be our Father when all are truly treated as brothers and sisters. If your prayers seem unheard, remember the parable of the two friends and keep praying until you get your response from God.
©Vita, 27/07/25
