Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time—Year C

Lectio

    Luke 11:1–13

Meditatio

“When you pray, say: Father …”

    I once read that all the sound waves of our earth go out into the cosmos. If we could invent a “collector” strong enough, we could conceivably collect and listen to Jesus, in person, praying the Our Father. Be that as it may, I think the apostles were spellbound to witness Jesus’ absorption and joy in prayer, and as friends would, asked him to show them how to do this. Jesus gave us a precious jewel that can never be surpassed in beauty and meaning when he gave us this prayer.

    As our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus is Healer, and he heals us in the deepest parts of our being, in our relationships. Jesus shares his heavenly Father with us. He shares the relationship that forms the core of the life of the Godhead with us. He wants us to know the Father as Our Father, to begin the lifelong quest for this awareness with the words of this prayer. A child can say this prayer, and Jesus wants us to realize that we will always be the children of the heavenly Father. The Father will feed us, forgive us, help us to forgive others, and protect us from trials that would overwhelm us. This relationship is so fundamental that Jesus wants his followers to have the security of his Father’s love as the grounds of their being.

    How many children, for various sad reasons, have not experienced the protection and care of their fathers or mothers and feel themselves to be painfully alone, sometimes for their entire lives? Even with a healthy upbringing, a person can often feel alone.

    We can always turn to our Heavenly Father, who waits for us to ask, seek, and knock. He waits, not with censure, but with attentive, eternal love. He waits, not with goodies, but with eternal life and joy. He waits, not to deny us, but to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

Oratio

    Father, when I use the prayer Jesus gave us, I feel somehow that I am slipping my hand into yours, and that I will be safe. Life then becomes easier, because I face it with you. I thank you for sending Jesus to redeem us and let us know our real identities, that we are all your children. I ask your Son and my Savior to help me to grow in likeness to you, so that when I arrive at the shores of eternal life, it will be a true and eternal homecoming.

Contemplatio

    “… how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

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ORDINARY GRACE Weeks 1–17: Daily Gospel Reflections (By the Daughters of St. Paul)