A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (# 35)
17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – July 25, 2004
“Lord, Teach Us To Pray!”
Gen 18:20-32 // Col 2:12-14 // Lk 11:1-13
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS
Greg Hefernan’s article, “John Wayne’s Grandson Reflects on His Priesthood” (cf. St. Anthony Messenger, June 2004, p.36-40) contains Fr. Matt Wayne Munoz’ account of the confident and persevering prayer of his grandmother, Josephine Saenz. Like St. Monica, Josephine never stopped praying for John Wayne, one of the greatest actors of all time. She was married to him from 1933 until 1945. He later remarried and fathered additional children. The Oscar-winning actor became a Catholic shortly before his death and was buried with the prayers and rites of the Church in a private family funeral. Fr. Matt, who is assigned to our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Orange County, California, testified: “My grandmother was very devout and so was my mother … In fact, my grandfather, John Wayne, was very true to God, but he wasn’t much of a church attendee … Maybe it took 40 years to sink in … He had cancer in the last days. And his dear friend Bishop Clavell, of Panama City, asked him if he wanted to be baptized. I wasn’t there when it happened, but I was at the hospital frequently to visit him with my mother. I really think my grandfather’s admiration for my grandmother is what made him take the spiritual step and say yes. I also believe my grandmother’s prayers were heard. Jesus doesn’t let us down.”
Last Sunday’s Gospel reading (Lk 10:38-40) on the visit of Jesus, the Divine Master to the house of Martha and Mary, underlined the preeminence of listening to his saving Word. Listening to his Word in order to act upon it is the most intense expression of love and hospitality we can show to Jesus, the sweet guest of our soul. Today’s Gospel passage (Lk 11:1-13) reinforces the importance of listening to Jesus and contemplating the Word he speaks to us so that it may be transformed into our prayer. According to Hans Urs von Balthasar: “The more a man learns to pray as he ought, the more deeply he discovers that his stammering toward God is only a response to the word that God has addressed to him … God speaks first …Prayer is a conversation in which the Word of God takes initiative and we can at first be only listeners. And this is the most important thing: that we perceive the Word of God, and that from his Word we might find a way to respond to him.”
Indeed, prayer is a response to God’s Word. It entails an attitude of receptivity on the part of the disciples. Prayer involves attentive listening to Jesus, who communicates to us his life-giving Word. The Word of God we receive is then transformed into prayer. The praying Christian disciple listens attentively to the words of Jesus, the Master of prayer par excellence.
In today’s Gospel account, the evangelist Luke records the beautiful image of Jesus as the Orante – the Master in prayer - and the reaction of his disciples to this contemplative act: “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’” (Lk 11:1). The disciples knew he drew strength from prayer and so it was natural for them to request him to teach them the Christian way of praying. The Master “PRAY-ER” obliged by saying 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” (Lk 11:2-4).
The Lord’s Prayer is the Christian prayer par excellence and the model of all prayer for his disciples. In forming his disciples in the spirit of prayer, Jesus taught them to address God as Abba – a very intimate word for “father”. Harold Buetow comments: “The very first word in Luke, Father, transports us at once into a new era. Though we may take the privilege of calling God Father for granted, the early Christians were thrilled that they were allowed to use the word. He with whom Jesus wants us to speak in prayer is less the Creator of the universe, the Lord of heaven and earth, than Abba, a diminutive of endearment that was used by adults as well as children for their own fathers: the word that could express most adequately the most intimate, the most personal relationship anyone could think of.”
The depth and richness of the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer set the Christian disciples firmly on the road of following Jesus in his paschal journey toward the realization of God’s kingdom. Aelred Rosser explains: “All the petitions have their counterparts in the Hebrew Scriptures. But the orientation of the Lord’s Prayer toward the future kingdom (already present but yet to be fulfilled) makes it special. Each petition looks ahead to that final day when the reign of God will be fully realized. The bread we pray for is the bread of the heavenly banquet. The forgiveness we pray for is what we need to belong to the eternal kingdom. The forgiveness we give is an ongoing response to the forgiveness we receive – as well as the condition that brings God’s forgiveness. The deliverance we pray for is what we will need when the great trial that precedes the end time is upon us. The Lord’s Prayer draws us toward the triumph.”
After teaching his disciples the content of the model prayer, Jesus delineated the goodness and the magnanimity of the Abba, to whom our prayer is addressed by means of stories and figures of speech. He narrated the parable of the importunate friend who was able to obtain in the middle of the night the three loaves of bread he needed to serve an impromptu guest by knocking incessantly at the door of his neighbor who was already in bed (cf. Lk 11:5-8). He also appealed to the common day experience of a father who will never give his son a serpent if he asks for a fish, or a scorpion if he asks for an egg (cf. Lk 11:9-13). By using the dynamics of contrast and the power of exaggeration, Jesus reinforced his message concerning God’s graciousness and readiness to respond to the needs of God’s children who are united with his beloved Son in his paschal journey. If a reluctant friend obliges to help an importunate friend, if a human father provides for the needs of his child, how much more will God care for his very own. Indeed, the Abba Father who loves us always responds to our prayer in ways that are best for us, though not perhaps in ways that we would expect or like.
This Sunday’s Gospel reading ends with a hypothetical question that underlines the benevolence and graciousness of God, the Abba Father of us all: “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?” (Lk 11:13) The biblical scholar, Samuel Oyin Abogunrin remarks: “God does not need to be cajoled into giving what we need. The commands to ask, seek, and knock refer to the believer’s trust in God who wills good things for all people and provides for their essential needs. To the one who asks, God gives the Holy Spirit considered in the early Church to be among God’s richest blessings.” The gift of the Holy Spirit is the source of boundless energy and creativity. Indeed, through humble, trusting and constant prayer we obtain the supreme gift of the Spirit that produces abundant fruit and supreme energy in view of Christian mission in the Church and in the world.
Aelred Rosser concludes: “As we progress toward maturity in prayer, we learn that the Father’s eagerness to supply our needs renders prayers of petition almost unnecessary – and prayers of thanksgiving and praise spontaneous.”
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
A. How does the image of Christ the Orante impact our spiritual and apostolic life?
B. Do we treasure the Lord’s Prayer, the Christian prayer par excellence? How?
C. Do we ask with faith for a renewed outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Church and the world?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
Assembly: Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Amen.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.
“Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray …’” (Lk 11:1)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
A. ACTION PLAN: Pray the Lord’s Prayer, using Luke’s version, slowly and meditatively. Pause after each petition and let its meaning sink into your heart. You may personally expand on the implications of each petition for you.
B. ACTION PLAN: Teach the Lord’s Prayer to someone who does not know it.
Prepared by Sr. Mary Margaret Tapang PDDM
SISTER DISCIPLES OF THE DIVINE MASTER
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