First Reading: Genesis 18:20-32

Second Reading: Colossians 2:12-14

Gospel Reading: Luke 11: 1-13

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.” He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed by your name, your kingdom come. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we fortive everyone in debt to us, and do not subject us to the final test.” And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend to whom he goes at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer him,’ and he says in re4ply from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked and my children and I are already in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.’ I tell you, if he does not get up to give the visitor the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence. And I tell you, 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. What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? 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?”

Our first reading this Sunday teaches us about prayer.

Abraham had just hosted the three messengers from God and is now seeing them on their way as they continue their journey. The LORD wonders to Himself: should He tell Abraham His plans? That He is going to Sodom to investigate what He has heard of their great sins? This is where our reading from Genesis picks up. The LORD has decided that He will tell Abraham of His plans. Abraham likely knows that the LORD will find Sodom guilty of great sins, for he anticipates the destruction of the city. So, he dares to beg the LORD to show mercy if but a handful of fifty innocent people can be found there. The LORD promises that he will spare the city for the innocent fifty.

Having dared to beg the LORD for so much, Abraham dares to beg for more. He asked for mercy if there be only forty-five, then forty, then thirty, twenty, and finally only ten. “For the sake of those ten,” promises the LORD, “I will not destroy it.”

Abraham is either a man of great presumption or of great trust. He seems to be bartering with the LORD. But is he? After all, with what does he have to barter? He has nothing to give to the LORD, nothing to promise the LORD, should the LORD do his bidding. What does a man have to give God? Abraham knew this, so he offers nothing to God, except God’s own justice. We humans have a tendency to barter with the Divine. “God, if you do this, then I will do that!” But, really, what could we finite, sinful humans possibly possess that would sway the will of an eternal, immutable Divine Being? Only our hearts! Only our devotion! But we already owe those to Him, don’t we?

Let’s be clear, then. Whatever God gives is grace. All is grace! He owes us nothing. We owe Him everything. So, whatever He gives us is grace. In this case, the LORD gives Abraham the grace of a promise: “For the sake of those ten, I will not destroy Sodom.” This promise is based on the promise made to Abraham, that he would be the father of a great nation. Abraham is acting as a father here, praying for his family. He knows his nephew, Lot, and Lot’s family are in Sodom. He prays that the LORD will show them mercy. And the LORD shows them mercy, by rescuing them from the destruction of Sodom. He does this because He is a gracious LORD, a LORD full of grace for those He loves.

Our Gospel reading this Sunday teaches us about prayer.

The disciples ask Jesus to teach them to prayer. Jesus instructs them saying, “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.”

Jesus instructs us to begin our prayer by calling God, “Father.” What does He mean? That God is like a Father to us? No! God is not like a Father, He is our Father. God is so much our Lord, or our King, or our Master, or the Divine Being. But God is so much more Our Father. And what is a father? A father is one who loves his children, provides for his children, teaches his children, protects his children, comforts his children, forgives his children, guides his children. Like Abraham, who prays for his children, begging God to be merciful for their sakes. And God is merciful.   

In our second reading this Sunday, St. Paul reminds us that God has

“brought you to life along with him,
having forgiven us all our transgressions;
obliterating the bond against us, … nailing it to the cross.”   

This God Who is so merciful is Our Father. We love Him as we love a father. We trust Him as we trust a father. We hold Him dear, as we do a father. We place all our hope in Him. Therefore, we praise Him. Hallowed be your Name! Your kingdom come … not ours! Not our kingdom, filled with greed, ambition, lust, gluttony, revenge. No! Your kingdom come; Your kingdom of love, faith, hope, forgiveness.

Give us this day our daily bread. Give us this day the Eucharist that nourishes us on our journey, the Eucharist that is our participation in the sacrifice of Your Son. Our Father in heaven did not spare Himself the sacrifice He spared Abraham. He told Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. And when Abraham demonstrated that, out of obedience to his LORD, he would give the greatest gift he had to God Almighty, God spared Abraham his sacrifice, substituting a ram in Isaac’s stead. But when Jesus showed that, out of obedience to the Father, He would give the greatest gift to God Almighty, the Father accepted the sacrifice of His own Son, not sparing Himself the sacrifice He spared Abraham, our father in faith. The Son of God nailed our transgressions to His cross, offering to the Father the gift of a life lived in perfect obedience to His will, even onto death, for the sake of our salvation. Now we desire that the Father give us our daily bread, our participation in the one sacrifice of Christ by our participation in this holy Mass – the one sacrifice of Christ made present on this altar so that we might participate in the one sacrifice. By eating His Body and drinking His Blood, we are transformed into Christ, and we take the Christ that we are into this world to transform it into one that better reflects His sacrificial, eternal, and redemptive love.

Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us. The measure with which we measure will be used to measure us. Our sins are forgiven as we forgive the sins of others against us. If we do not forgive, can we expect to be forgiven? It is said that the only things we take with us to the kingdom are the things we give away. So, give your love; give your mercy; give your compassion; give your faith; give your hope; give your forgiveness; give them all away, without cost, and you will take to these to the kingdom.   

Father, do not subject us to the final test. What is this final test? The word used here in the Greek is the same used for when the devil tempted Jesus in the desert. It is any trial that might try our faith, our hope, or our love. Like we might expect from our earthly father, we ask that our heavenly Father protect us from temptation, protect us from trials, protect us from sin. We do not sin because we are human. We sin because our humanity is broken, broken by the disobedience of Adam, our father in the flesh. Jesus was human – indeed, fully human. Yet, He did not sin, because His humanity was not broken. Yet, He took sin upon Himself and allowed His body to be nailed to a cross, thus nailing sin to that cross, so that, when He died on that cross, it was the death of sin. Having conquered sin, He entered the kingdom of death and conquered the kingdom of death from within, so that temporal death is no longer our enemy, but our ally. The kingdom of temporal death now flies our flag because Jesus has conquered that kingdom! Jesus is Lord of the living and the dead (Rm 14:9). So, Father, lead us not into temptation. Subject us not to the trial, that we might not be tempted to surrender to eternal death.

The story of the friend coming at night to beg for bread teaches us about prayer. The man who relents and finally gets up to give the bread does so to shut his friend up and to have leave of him. If this wicked man gives because he is annoyed, how much more will God give because He is a gracious God who loves you. All is grace. All that God gives is grace. We have only to ask, only to seek, only to knock, and the door will be opened. Do not be a lazy pray-er. Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock and the door will be opened. Ask. Seek. Knock. Those are all verbs, which means they are action words. Take action in your prayer life. You cannot expect to receive if you do not ask. You cannot expect to find what you do not search for. You cannot expect anyone to know you are at the door unless you knock. So, take action in your prayer life. What God gives us, whatever He gives us in response to our prayers, will be a grace given for the sake of our salvation.       

Be Christ for all. Bring Christ to all. See Christ in all.