XVII Sunday in OT[C]: Gen18:20-32, Col 2: 12-14, Lk11:1-13

XVII Sunday in OT[C]: Gen18:20-32, Col 2: 12-14, Lk11:1-13

Introduction: The main themes of today’s Scripture readings are the power of intercessory prayer, the ideal prayer, the Our Father, and the necessity for persistence and perseverance in prayer, with trusting faith and boldness. In short, the readings teach us what to pray and how to pray. 

Joke: A businessman who needed millions of dollars to clinch an important deal went to church to pray for the money. By chance he knelt next to a man who was praying for $100 to pay an urgent debt. The businessman took out his wallet and pressed $100 into the other man’s hand. Overjoyed, the man got up and left the church. The businessman then closed his eyes and prayed, “And now, Lord, now that I have your undivided attention….”

Persistent in Prayer:  The thread tying together the Hebrew Testament reading and the Gospel reading is about being fearless in asking God for something.  In the first reading Abraham does not want God to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. He pleads for these cities by talking directly to God and asking God to change his plans.  But he doesn’t just ask, he is persistent in asking, pushing for more and more mercy each time. It reminds me of a little child who keeps asking and asking until he breaks his parents down and gets what he wants.

The sin of Sodom and Gomorrah is the sin of being inhospitable.  You may remember from past weeks that hospitality was one of the primary virtues of the Mediterranean person for many reasons.  Travel was difficult and could not be undertaken without a system of hospitality.  It was expected, and people were seen as virtuous who were hospitable. God sent two visitors to test the hospitality of the people, but only one person in the town was hospitable. So in the end, God saved the one person but destroyed the cities. Despite Abraham’s constant nagging and lowering the number of good people he must find to allow the cities to be saved, he was unable to find even ten hospitable people there. But, God kept listening to Abraham, and Abraham did manage to get it down from forty-five to ten.

Similarly in the Gospel, Jesus tells a story about a man who wants to be hospitable and is asking his neighbor to lend him some food to give his guests.  When he doesn’t get the response he wants from his neighbor, he asks again and again until he breaks the neighbor down and he does get what he wants. Jesus praises the man for his persistence in asking. The major lesson here then is to have persistence in asking God for what you want.  Jesus comfortingly tells us that if you ask it will be given to you because God is a loving parent, and like any parent, loves his or her child and listens to the needs of that child. Even parents with bad parenting skills do that, Jesus says.

Life Messages: 1) Be persistent in asking to God: Here is St. John Marie Vianney’s advice to a couple:  "Spend three minutes praising and thanking God for all you have. Spend three minutes asking God’s pardon for your sins and presenting your needs before Him. Spend three minutes reading the Bible and listening to God in silence. And do this every day."

2) Be hospitable to people who are in need. We should not wait for someone to compel us to be hospitable.  Neighbor means those who is in need. So try to be hospitable as Good Samaritan.

Introduction: XVII (Seventeenth) Sunday in Ordinary Time

Message: In bargaining with God, Abraham demonstrates a real persistence in prayer.  Jesus invites us to persist in prayer as well, to “ask…. seek…. knock”.  May our prayer open us to God’s will, and so build up his strength within us.  In baptism we have died with Christ, and have been raised to life with him.

Saints and Events in this week: 29(Twenty-ninth) Monday-Saint Martha; 30(Thirtieth) Tuesday-Saint Peter Chrysologus, bishop, doctor of the church; 31(Thirty-first) Wednesday-Saint Ignatius of Loyola, priest; August 1(First) Thursday-Saint Alphonsus Liguori, bishop, doctor of the church; 2(Second) Friday-Saint Eusebius of Vercelli, bishop; Saint Peter Julian Eymard, priest;