Sunday, July 24, 2022. Cycle C

Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke (11:1-13):
Once Jesus was praying in a certain place, when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say, ‘Father, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, give us our daily bread every day, forgive us our sins, for we too forgive all who owe us, and do not let us fall into temptation.'” And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and he comes at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for one of my friends has come on a journey and I have nothing to offer him’; and, from within, he answers him, “Do not disturb me; the door is already closed; my children and I are lying down; I cannot get up to give them to you”; I tell you that, if he does not get up and give them to him because he is his friend, at least because of his importunity he will get up and give him everything he needs.
For I say to you: ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, call and it will be opened to you; for everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds, and to whom he calls, opens himself. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of the fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion? If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good things to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” Word of the Lord.
Jesus does not teach at a distance. Whoever does not live with him cannot learn from him. The gospel has just reminded us of this through an anonymous disciple who surprises Jesus by praying, and is surprised because he has not yet taught him to pray, when all the other teachers in Israel had done so with his disciples. Seeing his teacher praying makes him realize what he still has to learn.
Truly, we cannot forget that Jesus taught those who asked him to pray. He spoke of God to all who listened to him, he exposed his will to what he encountered. But he taught to speak with God as one speaks with a father, he invited to know himself as a son of God only to the one who begged him to teach him to pray as he did. Even if we haven’t deserved it and can’t afford it, we have to value when Jesus can teach us.
Well thought out, it must not be painful to realize that one does not know how to pray. Acknowledging it is by no means a pretext to leave Jesus, nor to become disillusioned with oneself. Rather, it is an added reason to stay with him longer, until we learn to pray, until he wants to teach us. The disciple who asked for prayer lessons was one of those who were fortunate enough to accompany him as Jesus prayed. If we had no better reason to stay with Jesus for a lifetime, we could use as a reason, and it is excellent! until we know how to pray like him, we will need him to teach us; as long as Jesus can teach us, we cannot abandon Him. Our ignorance of prayer is a good excuse to continue with Jesus, to follow him wherever he goes. Whoever wants Jesus to be his prayer teacher must remain in his company. Whoever lives far from Jesus, without always listening to you, without often contemplating him, will have no idea what it means to pray as he knew.
Jesus taught words what to say to God and in what order; and in doing so, he showed us that, in prayer, God’s interests precede our needs. Even in prayer God goes first, but by choosing the words, Jesus discovered to us that everyone who stands before God has a father.
More than a prayer, the Lord’s Prayer is a school of prayer. In jesus’ prayer, the criterion of success is not in achieving what is asked, it lies in knowing oneself as the son of the one who listens to us. When the disciple of Jesus prays, he may miss many things; but it is certain that he does not lack a father in God. When he prays, the disciple of Jesus becomes a child of God; and then, only then, can you ask God for what you want, what you want most, his kingdom, so that God may be recognized on earth, and his Spirit so that one may feel like his child in the heart. Is there anything better that can be desired than to have God as father and His Spirit as a family patrimony?
And when we pray, we know that this normal experience could weaken our very desire to pray, because we think that with prayer we will achieve what we do not achieve with our efforts; we pray to achieve little wonders, forgetting that the greatest wonder had already been given; Before we confess our faults to Him or beg For His protection, God lets us know that we have Him as Father at our disposal.
The prayer of the son does not depend, therefore, on the seriousness of his shortcomings, but on the great that is your confidence. It is not decisive what is asked, nor how much, nor when, but the relationship that mediates between the prayer and his God. Asking is the job of children; and to give, the task of the Father.
To enjoy the presence of God in the Mass and in the family!



Original source in Spanish