Daily Retreat 07/29/07
2007 Jul 29 SUN:SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Gn 18:20-32/ Ps 137(138):1-2. 2-3. 6-7. 7-8 (3a)/ Col 2:12-14/ Lk 11:1-13
From today’s readings:“The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great, and their sin so grave.... Lord, on the day I called for help, You answered me.... You were buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the power of God.... 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?”
A Real Prayer
In the middle of middle school, I was given a paperback New Testament, and, in a moment of inspiration, I decided I would read it, instead of just leaving it on my shelf to gather dust. And so I started with the Gospels - and let me just mention in passing, that if you haven’t yet acquired that soul-nourishing habit of reading the Bible daily, one of the best ways to begin is simply to commit to reading through the Gospels. Even a single chapter every day, taking literally only 2 or 3 minutes of your time, will get you on the Way....
Now, even though reading the Bible is, in itself, always a good thing, it’s still possible to misuse or confuse that, as well as every other good thing (remember: even the Devil can quote Scripture for his own purposes!). As often happens when one latches on to just a small part (instead of the whole!) of Scripture, I thought I understood clearly a few verses, and I jumped to the wrong conclusions.
The verses which I seized upon are very familiar: “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.” Now these verses are familiar not just because they are enticing, but they also encapsulate a fundamental teaching repeated often by Jesus: God is our loving generous Father - pray to Him, and He will answer your prayers!
Now, Jesus said it, so I believe it, and I thought, “Wow, this is great - I’ve got to try this out!” So the next day, which happened to be in the middle of winter, some friends and I were bemoaning the fact that it really hadn’t snowed yet that year. “Maybe it will snow tomorrow,” one friend suggested hopefully. “No, I bet it won’t!” replied the pessimist in our midst. “I bet it will,” I piped in, and before giving the matter any clear thought, I had done just that: shook hands, and made a bona fide bet that it would snow the next day.
When I got home, I did something I had never done before - I checked the weather forecast in the newspaper! It took me awhile to decipher the page, but at any rate, what soon became clear was that the weather would be clear, with 0% chance of precipitation for at least the next three days. So, I did what any brash teenager with a desperate bet on the line would do: I prayed! “Oh God, in the Name of Jesus, I ask You for snow here tomorrow!” I was asking, seeking, knocking - I opened my Bible, used the exact words Jesus had prescribed, tacked on the Lord’s prayer for good measure, and I went to bed with a smile on my face as the snowflakes already started dancing in my dreams.
But when I awoke, there was no snow! All day long - no snow! Even after bedtime, I stayed awake until past midnight, peeking out my bedroom window every 15 minutes hoping for a glimpse of at least a powdery sprinkle that would qualify. But, no snow - only the cold stars laughing in my face!
Well, not only did I lose my two-bit bet, but I also was in big danger of losing a bit of my faith. Now, in situations of like levity, others have put the Word of God to similar tests, and when the test failed, they have bitterly walked away from their faith - you probably personally know such people. And I’ll admit it was a crisis of faith for me too, because God had apparently not delivered on a pretty clear promise.
But the grace of God helped me to use my sagging doubts as a springboard to a higher faith. I imagined myself hearing Jesus speak those words personally, and then boldly asking for something bad, like: “God, in the Name of Jesus, because of its sins, I ask You to destroy New York City!” This was the very opposite attitude taken by Abraham, who pleaded for divine mercy for Sodom and Gomorrah! I immediately realized how revolting it would be to ask God to do anything bad for others, or for myself, for what good father would give his son a scorpion, even if he said, “Give me a scorpion, pretty please?”
So, I realized, God was not some blind Santa Claus that would ever deliver us a box of matches or stick of dynamite just because we asked in the right way! God loves us too much to ever take part in any transaction that would lead us to harm. So God’s answer to every sinful, scandalous, selfish, stupid, silly, or even merely untimely prayer, is to set us down, embracing us as He knows best, and whispering in our hearts, “Even when you ask for the world, you ask for too little - why don’t you ask Me for Me instead, so I can give you the Holy Spirit?”
You see, God not only emphatically teaches us to pray, He also lovingly teaches us how to pray!
Gn 18:20-32/ Ps 137(138):1-2. 2-3. 6-7. 7-8 (3a)/ Col 2:12-14/ Lk 11:1-13
From today’s readings:“The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great, and their sin so grave.... Lord, on the day I called for help, You answered me.... You were buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the power of God.... 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?”
A Real Prayer
In the middle of middle school, I was given a paperback New Testament, and, in a moment of inspiration, I decided I would read it, instead of just leaving it on my shelf to gather dust. And so I started with the Gospels - and let me just mention in passing, that if you haven’t yet acquired that soul-nourishing habit of reading the Bible daily, one of the best ways to begin is simply to commit to reading through the Gospels. Even a single chapter every day, taking literally only 2 or 3 minutes of your time, will get you on the Way....
Now, even though reading the Bible is, in itself, always a good thing, it’s still possible to misuse or confuse that, as well as every other good thing (remember: even the Devil can quote Scripture for his own purposes!). As often happens when one latches on to just a small part (instead of the whole!) of Scripture, I thought I understood clearly a few verses, and I jumped to the wrong conclusions.
The verses which I seized upon are very familiar: “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.” Now these verses are familiar not just because they are enticing, but they also encapsulate a fundamental teaching repeated often by Jesus: God is our loving generous Father - pray to Him, and He will answer your prayers!
Now, Jesus said it, so I believe it, and I thought, “Wow, this is great - I’ve got to try this out!” So the next day, which happened to be in the middle of winter, some friends and I were bemoaning the fact that it really hadn’t snowed yet that year. “Maybe it will snow tomorrow,” one friend suggested hopefully. “No, I bet it won’t!” replied the pessimist in our midst. “I bet it will,” I piped in, and before giving the matter any clear thought, I had done just that: shook hands, and made a bona fide bet that it would snow the next day.
When I got home, I did something I had never done before - I checked the weather forecast in the newspaper! It took me awhile to decipher the page, but at any rate, what soon became clear was that the weather would be clear, with 0% chance of precipitation for at least the next three days. So, I did what any brash teenager with a desperate bet on the line would do: I prayed! “Oh God, in the Name of Jesus, I ask You for snow here tomorrow!” I was asking, seeking, knocking - I opened my Bible, used the exact words Jesus had prescribed, tacked on the Lord’s prayer for good measure, and I went to bed with a smile on my face as the snowflakes already started dancing in my dreams.
But when I awoke, there was no snow! All day long - no snow! Even after bedtime, I stayed awake until past midnight, peeking out my bedroom window every 15 minutes hoping for a glimpse of at least a powdery sprinkle that would qualify. But, no snow - only the cold stars laughing in my face!
Well, not only did I lose my two-bit bet, but I also was in big danger of losing a bit of my faith. Now, in situations of like levity, others have put the Word of God to similar tests, and when the test failed, they have bitterly walked away from their faith - you probably personally know such people. And I’ll admit it was a crisis of faith for me too, because God had apparently not delivered on a pretty clear promise.
But the grace of God helped me to use my sagging doubts as a springboard to a higher faith. I imagined myself hearing Jesus speak those words personally, and then boldly asking for something bad, like: “God, in the Name of Jesus, because of its sins, I ask You to destroy New York City!” This was the very opposite attitude taken by Abraham, who pleaded for divine mercy for Sodom and Gomorrah! I immediately realized how revolting it would be to ask God to do anything bad for others, or for myself, for what good father would give his son a scorpion, even if he said, “Give me a scorpion, pretty please?”
So, I realized, God was not some blind Santa Claus that would ever deliver us a box of matches or stick of dynamite just because we asked in the right way! God loves us too much to ever take part in any transaction that would lead us to harm. So God’s answer to every sinful, scandalous, selfish, stupid, silly, or even merely untimely prayer, is to set us down, embracing us as He knows best, and whispering in our hearts, “Even when you ask for the world, you ask for too little - why don’t you ask Me for Me instead, so I can give you the Holy Spirit?”
You see, God not only emphatically teaches us to pray, He also lovingly teaches us how to pray!
posted by FrPitstick | 7/27/2007
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