Sunday Homilies by Fr. Rudolf V. D’ Souza

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17^th Sunday of Ordinary Time
July 29, 2007 - Year: C
Gen. 18:20-1, 23-32; Col. 2:6-14; Lk. 11:1-13

Perseverance in faith

First Reading...
“The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre and said, ‘How great is the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and how very grave their sin! I must go down and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me; and if not, I will know.’

Then Abraham came near and said, ‘Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will you then sweep away the place and not forgive it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?’ And the Lord said, ‘If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will forgive the whole place for their sake.’

Abraham answered, ‘Let me take it upon myself to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five? And the Lord said, ‘I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.’

Again Abraham spoke to the Lord, ‘Suppose forty are found there.’ He answered, ‘For the sake of forty I will not destroy it.’

Then Abraham said, ‘Oh do not let the Lord be angry if I speak. Supposed thirty are found there.’ The Lord answered, ‘I will not do it, if I find thirty there.’

Abraham said, ‘Let me take it upon myself to speak to the Lord. Supposed twenty are found there.’ The Lord answered, ‘For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.’

Then Abraham said, ‘Oh do not let the Lord be angry if I speak just once more. Suppose ten are found there.’ The Lord answered, ‘For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.’” [Gen. 18:20-1, 23-32]

Second Reading...
“Brothers and sisters, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elementary spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority.

In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ. When you were buried with Christ in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.

And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross.” [Col. 2:6-14] 

Gospel Reading...
“Jesus was praying in a certain place, and after he had 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 your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.”

And Jesus said to the disciples, ‘Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.’ And your friend answered from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’

’I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.’

’So I say to you: Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the doors will be opened.’

’Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!’” [Lk. 11:1-13]

This is what I Saw:
Once I saw a boy trying to ride a bicycle. He was practically stubborn in his attempts at learning the bicycle. He fell; he was wounded, yet never gave up. I observed him from far away, and I was impressed by his repeated attempts at riding the bicycle. Well, I thought this is a tough guy, will certainly persevere in everything he would do in future.

It was the regular custom for a Rabbi to teach his disciples a simple prayer which they might habitually use. John had done that for his disciples, and now Jesus' disciples came asking him to do the same for them. This is Luke's version of the Lord's Prayer. It is shorter than Matthew's, but it will teach us all we need to know about how to pray and what to pray for.

1. It begins by calling God Father. That was the characteristic Christian address to God. (Galatians 4: 6; Romans 8: 15; 1 Peter 1: 17). The very first word tells us that in prayer we are not coming to someone out of whom gifts have to be unwillingly extracted, but to a Father who delights to supply his children's needs.

2. In Hebrew the name means much more than merely the name by which a person is called. The name means the whole character of the person as it is revealed and known to us. Psalm 9: 10 says, "Those who know thy name put their trust in thee." That means far more than knowing that God's name is Jehovah. It means that those who know the whole character and mind and heart of God will gladly put their trust in him.

3. We must note particularly the order of the Lords Prayer. Before anything is asked for ourselves, God and his glory, and the reverence due to him, come first. Only when we give God his place will other things take their proper place.

4. The prayer covers all life.

(a) It covers present need. It tells us to pray for our daily bread; but it is bread for the day for which we pray. This goes back to the old story of the manna in the wilderness (Exodus 16: 11-21). Only enough for the needs of the day might be gathered. We are not to worry about the unknown future, but to live a day at a time. 

(b) It covers past sin. When we pray we cannot do other than pray for forgiveness, for the best of us is a sinful man coming before the purity of God. 

(c) It covers future trials. Temptation means any testing situation. It includes far more than the mere seduction to sin; it covers every situation which is a challenge to and a test of a person's manhood and integrity and fidelity. We cannot escape it, but we can meet it with God. 

Someone has said that the Lord's Prayer has two great uses in our private prayers. If we use it at the beginning of our devotions it awakens all kinds of holy desires which lead us on into the right pathways of prayer. If we use it at the end of our devotions it sums up all we ought to pray for in the presence of God.

Helpful Incident:
Some years ago, three brothers left the farm to work in the city. They were all hired by the same company at the same pay. Three years later, Jim was being paid Rs. 5000 a month, Frank was receiving Rs.10000, but George was now making 15000.

Their father decided to visit the employer. He listened to the confused father and said, "I will let the boys explain for themselves."

Jim was summoned to the supervisor's office and was told, "Jim, I understand the Far East Importers has just brought in a large transport plane loaded with Japanese import goods. Will you please go over to the airport and get a cargo inventory?"

Three minutes later, Jim returned to the office. "The cargo was one thousand bolts of Japanese silk," Jim reported. "I got the information over the telephone from a member of the crew."

When Jim left, Frank, the Rs 10000 a month brother, was called. "Frank," said the supervisor, "I wish you'd go out to the airport and get an inventory of the cargo plane which was just brought in by Far East Importers."

An hour later, Frank was back in the office with a list showing that the plane carried 1,000 bolts of Japanese silk, 500 transistor radios, and 1,000 hand-painted bamboo trays. George, the Rs.15000 a month brother, was given identical instructions. Working hours were over when he finally returned.

"The transport plane carried one thousand bolts of Japanese silk," he began. "It was on sale at 2500 Rupees a bolt, so I took a two-day option on the whole lot. I have wired a designer in New Delhi offering the silk at Rs. 3000/- a bolt. I expect to have the order tomorrow. I also found five hundred transistor radios, which I sold over the telephone at a profit of Rs. 150 each. There were a thousand bamboo trays, but they were of poor quality, so I didn't try to do anything with them."

When George left the office, the employer smiled. "You probably noticed," he said, "that Jim doesn't do what he's told, Frank does only what he'd told, but George does without being told."

The future is full of promise for one who shows perseverance.

The Second reading from the Colossians provokes us to have more faith in Christ. Faithfulness requires that we are filled with love for God and Christ. Christ’s faithfulness is visible in all his activities, prayer and his relationship with God, man and nature. Faith is intensely a question of a life lived in union with God while engaging ourselves in our daily life.

Today’s spiritual message for the 17^th Sunday is that we should “persevere in our living faith.” [Col. 2:6]

1. Persevere in our prayer

2. Perseverance in our Work

3. Perseverance in our daily relationship

4. Perseverance in keeping up our health

5. Perseverance in developing our talents

6. Perseverance in keeping the Gospel Values in everything we do. 

Story:
There is a story that comes from Scotland about an elderly woman who was very poor but had great faith in the power of prayer. One summer evening, two young rogues passed her cottage window and heard her praying fervently for bread. Thinking it would be a good joke to “answer her prayer,” they ran off to the village baker and bought two loaves of bread. They returned, climbed up on the woman’s roof and dropped the loaves down the chimney to the fireless grate below. 

The next day, the two lads called at the woman’s home and deviously steered the conversation so as to get the woman to tell how God had answered her prayer for bread. At that point, the boys laughed heartily. Thinking that they would make her feel foolish, they explained how they had procured the bread and dropped it down the chimney. The woman’s faith remained unshaken, and she calmly told the two, “I still say God sent the bread, even though he used the devil’s imps to deliver it.”

In this week, let us reflect upon what is our role in making this world a better place to live in. We need some reminders to make our day better, relationship lasting and enjoyable, and our work pleasurable. Hence, we try to:

1. Persevere in our prayer: May be taking 10 minutes a day for personal prayer?

2. Perseverance in our Work: Doing your job with pleasure and contentment?

3. Perseverance in our daily relationship: Being human, respectful, caring and loving?

4. Perseverance in keeping up our health: going for a medical test and taking care of your food habits and being disciplined in food?

5. Perseverance in developing our talents: Why can’t try something that really helps you to be energetic? Play, music and learn a bit more of computers?

6. Perseverance in keeping the Gospel Values in everything we do: Perhaps reading a bit more of the Bible everyday for 5 minutes?

Perseverance means, constancy, hard work, disciplined approach to any task. The boy riding bicycle was really keen on learning to ride. He had a desire to achieve something in his life.

This lesson of perseverance is the need of the hour. Today people do not persevere. They are tired. Often give up soon.  

THE IMPORTANCE OF the spirit of PERSISTENCE according to St. Luke 11:9-10 

- It is those who ask, seek, and knock, who will receive, find, and have doors opened. 

- The element of persistence is implied even in... 

1. The present tense of the verbs for "ask", "seek", and "knock" (literally, "keep on asking", "keep on seeking", and "keep on knocking" 

2. The progressive relation between the words: - One normally starts out by "asking"; as they learn more, they begin "seeking"; as they arrive close to their destination, they start "knocking"

Failure to persist in prayer, then, may be one reason some prayers go unanswered! 

Having faith and perseverance means that we know our task comes from God and we rely on God for everything.

Perseverance means activity, and the dictionary definition of “activity” is: 'an exertion of energy.' Every human being can identify with that understanding of activity. We certainly know how we feel when we have exerted too much energy. We become depleted and exhausted. We then scurry about trying to find ways to create more energy in ourselves so that we can continue to perform and produce activity at an acceptable level. The folly of this strategy is that we never address the core issue of the soul - that of being participants in the great creative work of God. Ideally, activity is not task-driven but inner directed. We are invited to 'show up' at life and exert our energy in being astonished at the wonder of God, in becoming fully human and fully alive, and in being a part of the imaginative creative development of this enterprise called life. In other words, we were not created simply to complete tasks that could be checked off from a daily to-do list. We were created to 'become' and to 'participate.' That is why: "ask", "seek", and "knock"

The future is full of promise for one who shows perseverance. 

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