There is an American writer called Scott Hahn, who used to be a Presbyterian and very anti-Catholic, but through his own studies ended up converting and becoming a Catholic. He is a brilliant writer and teacher of the faith. His own conversion story called Rome Sweet Home, is well worth reading. He now writes and teaches as a Catholic theologian in Stubenville University. In one of his talks he mentions that he had arranged to have a public debate with a Muslim, about the differences between the two faiths. Before they had the debate he met the Muslim and he mentioned to him that he would be talking about the fact that Christians understand God as a loving Father who looks after his children. Before he was able to go any farther, he said that the other man got upset and said that it is not right to talk about God as a Father. He said God is master and that it was insulting to speak about him as Father. The Muslim ended up refusing to have the debate at all. Scott says that this really brought home to him the difference in the way we understand God.
Jesus taught us to talk about and address God in a way that was scandalous for many people then and now. The Jews in Jesus’ time were scandalised that Jesus would talk about God as Father, especially the way Jesus used the word ‘Abba.’ Once when I was in Israel I remember hearing a boy address his dad as ‘Abba.’ It really brought home to me what it meant. The idea of addressing God as ‘daddy’ is still strange to us, and yet that’s what Jesus did.
Recently a deacon friend of mine told me that a Muslim friend of his was asking him about our Church and about the mass. The deacon was explaining to him that in each mass we believe that the bread and wine really and truly become the Body and Blood of Christ. The Muslim asked again, ‘You really believe that God become present in a piece of bread and wine?’ And my friend said ‘Yes.’ And the Muslim’s response was fascinating. He said, ‘And this is how they dress?!’
God is all-powerful and doesn’t need us in any way, yet God invites us to play a part in what happens in the world. He asks us to take part in his creation, especially by interceding for each other, by being responsible for our actions. That is the action of a good parent with their child. Any parent doesn’t need their children’s help, especially when the children are small, but they love to allow the children to take part in things, for the sheer joy of having them there and helping them to learn. God does the same with us, even though there is the risk of us making a mess of things, which we regularly do. God invites us to be part of his work on earth.
In the first reading it says that God went down to see if what He had heard about Sodom and Gomorrah was really true. That is saying that people should always be given a fair chance to have their side of the story heard. God doesn’t act by hearsay and neither should we.
It also says that God is a moral God, who will hold us accountable for our actions. The idea that God was a moral God was something completely new for that time. People believed that the gods did whatever they wanted, with no sense of right or wrong and no regard for people’s wellbeing. God is showing us that there is a universal moral law, which cannot be changed. A modern-day error, is that we can decide what is right or wrong. If enough people decide that something is acceptable, such as abortion, then it is acceptable. But God says no, what is wrong is wrong and doesn’t change, even if the majority of people decide that it is ok. In Isaiah it says, ‘Woe to those who call good evil and evil good’ (Is 5:20). Doing that is twisting God’s word, but we see it happening all the time in our society.
Then Abraham intercedes for the people of the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah, which God is threatening to destroy and in the classic Middle-Eastern way, he bargains his way down to the best deal. Abraham actually challenges God and God allows him to. God showed him what He intended to do, so that Abraham would intercede for those people. He wanted Abraham to be involved. God also wants us to be involved in his world. He wants us to pray and intercede for the world around us. You are in exactly the right place God wants you to be and part of what God calls us to do is to pray for those around us. You may be the only one who is praying for those people. Take it seriously. We have been blessed with the gift of faith and that is part of what God asks us to do; to intercede for those around us.
People often ask, ‘Does God have a particular plan for me?’ The answer is yes, and part of that plan is to intercede for those around you. It is a real mission and an important one.
Think for a moment. What is the most important thing that we can pray for each day? The most important thing to pray for, is for those who will die today, that God may be merciful to them, so that they will go to heaven. In 1917 in Fatima, Our Lady gave the children a prayer and asked that it be added to the rosary at the end of each decade:
‘O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell.
Lead all souls to heaven, especially those who are in most need of your mercy.’
The fact that the Church added this prayer to the rosary says a lot. It is saying that heaven and hell are real and people who reject God can go to hell, which is why it is so important that we pray for those around us.
Everyone around us who dies each day, goes somewhere; either to be with God forever in heaven, or to lose God forever because of how they have lived and what they have chosen. Many people probably won’t be able to come directly into God’s presence, because of sinfulness that they have not asked forgiveness for, or have not atoned for and so God allows them to go through a final purification, or purgation that we call purgatory. That is one of God’s gifts of mercy to us.
Sadly, many people reject the idea of purgatory. But think of it this way and this is an extreme example, but it makes the point. Suppose that the day before he died, Hitler realized all the evil he had done and repented and sincerely begged God for mercy. God has told us that He is infinitely just, but also infinitely merciful and that anyone who sincerely repents will experience his mercy. So does that mean that the next day when he died he would go straight to heaven? That would be a mockery of God’s justice. So where does he go? There must be some way for him to atone for what he has done. That is what we call purgatory.
Then comes the question that everyone asks: ‘Does God hear my prayers? And does God answer my prayers?’ From what Jesus says in this Gospel passage, God always hears and God always answers. If that is not true, then Jesus was lying. ‘Ask and you will receive… The one who asks always receives.’
Now the question comes up with most of us, ‘How come I’m always praying for certain intentions and they often aren’t answered?’ God sees a bigger picture than we do. God sees the whole picture. What we ask for is not always the wisest thing to ask for. If your five year old son asked for a chainsaw for his birthday, hopefully you wouldn’t give it to him. The child may think that you are really mean and never give him what he asks for, but you can see a bigger picture than he can, because you are older and wiser. God is the same with us. God always answers our prayers, otherwise Jesus is a liar, but He doesn’t always answer them in the way that we expect, or understand, or even recognise. That is where we have to believe and trust that God knows what He is doing and God is looking after us. God always hears us and God always answers us.
When the disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray, He gives them the Our Father. Note, they didn’t ask him for ‘a prayer’, but how to pray. So the Our Father is not just a prayer, but it is teaching us how to pray.
The first half of the Our Father is acknowledging God, his holiness and that his will may be done. Only in the second half do we ask for our needs. So even if you only take that much away from the Our Father, remember to always start by praising and thanking God for all that we have before you ask for what you need. That’s why at the beginning of the mass each Sunday, we pray the Gloria. We praise and acknowledge God. It is only after listening to the readings that we ask for our own needs in the intercessions. This is how God teaches us to pray.
Perhaps the most unexpected thing of all is that Jesus teaches us to pray to the point of being annoying, the way a child will keep asking you for the same thing until you give in. This is how Jesus tells us to pray. Be persistent, until God gives in!
'Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find. Knock and the door shall be opened to you.'
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