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2010년 10월 17일 연중 제29주일
제1독서
탈출기.17,8-13
그 무렵 8 아말렉족이 몰려와 르피딤에서 이스라엘과 싸움을 벌였다.
9그러자 모세가 여호수아에게 말하였다. “너는 우리를 위하여 장정들을 뽑아 아말렉과 싸우러 나가거라. 내일 내가 하느님의 지팡이를 손에 잡고 언덕 꼭대기에 서 있겠다.” 10 여호수아는 모세가 말한 대로 아말렉과 싸우고, 모세와 아론과 후르는 언덕으로 올라갔다.
11모세가 손을 들면 이스라엘이 우세하고, 손을 내리면 아말렉이 우세하였다.
12모세의 손이 무거워지자, 그들은 돌을 가져다 그의 발 아래 놓고 그를 그 위에 앉혔다. 그런 다음 아론과 후르가 한 사람은 이쪽에서, 다른 사람은 저쪽에서 모세의 두 손을 받쳐 주니, 그의 손이 해가 질 때까지 처지지 않았다.
13그리하여 여호수아는 아말렉과 그의 백성을 칼로 무찔렀다.
제2독서
티모테오 2서.3,14ㅡ4,2
사랑하는 그대여, 14 그대는 그대가 배워서 확실히 믿는 것을 지키십시오. 그대는 누구에게서 배웠는지 잘 알고 있습니다. 15 또한 어려서부터 성경을 잘 알고 있습니다. 성경은 그리스도 예수님에 대한 믿음을 통하여 구원을 얻는 지혜를 그대에게 줄 수 있습니다.
16성경은 전부 하느님의 영감으로 쓰인 것으로, 가르치고 꾸짖고 바로잡고 의롭게 살도록 교육하는 데에 유익합니다. 17 그리하여 하느님의 사람이 온갖 선행을 할 능력을 갖춘 유능한 사람이 되게 해 줍니다.
4,1나는 하느님 앞에서, 또 산 이와 죽은 이를 심판하실 그리스도 예수님 앞에서, 그리고 그분의 나타나심과 다스리심을 걸고 그대에게 엄숙히 지시합니다. 2 말씀을 선포하십시오. 기회가 좋든지 나쁘든지, 꾸준히 계속하십시오. 끈기를 다하여 사람들을 가르치면서, 타이르고 꾸짖고 격려하십시오.
복음
루카.18,1-8
그때에 1 예수님께서는 낙심하지 말고 끊임없이 기도해야 한다는 뜻으로 제자들에게 비유를 말씀하셨다.
2“어떤 고을에 하느님도 두려워하지 않고, 사람도 대수롭지 않게 여기는 한 재판관이 있었다. 3 또 그 고을에는 과부가 한 사람 있었는데, 그는 줄곧 그 재판관에게 가서, ‘저와 저의 적대자 사이에 올바른 판결을 내려 주십시오.’ 하고 졸랐다.
4재판관은 한동안 들어주려고 하지 않다가, 마침내 속으로 말하였다. ‘나는 하느님도 두려워하지 않고, 사람도 대수롭지 않게 여기지만, 5 저 과부가 나를 이토록 귀찮게 하니, 그에게는 올바른 판결을 내려 주어야겠다. 그렇게 하지 않으면 끝까지 찾아와서 나를 괴롭힐 것이다.’”
6주님께서 다시 이르셨다. “이 불의한 재판관이 하는 말을 새겨들어라. 7 하느님께서 당신께 선택된 이들이 밤낮으로 부르짖는데, 그들에게 올바른 판결을 내려 주지 않으신 채, 그들을 두고 미적거리시겠느냐?
8내가 너희에게 말한다. 하느님께서는 그들에게 지체 없이 올바른 판결을 내려 주실 것이다. 그러나 사람의 아들이 올 때에, 이 세상에서 믿음을 찾아볼 수 있겠느냐?”
October 17, 2010
Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1
In those days, Amalek came and waged war against Israel.
Moses, therefore, said to Joshua,
"Pick out certain men,
and tomorrow go out and engage Amalek in battle.
I will be standing on top of the hill
with the staff of God in my hand."
So Joshua did as Moses told him:
he engaged Amalek in battle
after Moses had climbed to the top of the hill with Aaron and Hur.
As long as Moses kept his hands raised up,
Israel had the better of the fight,
but when he let his hands rest,
Amalek had the better of the fight.
Moses’hands, however, grew tired;
so they put a rock in place for him to sit on.
Meanwhile Aaron and Hur supported his hands,
one on one side and one on the other,
so that his hands remained steady till sunset.
And Joshua mowed down Amalek and his people
with the edge of the sword.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (cf. 2) Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
I lift up my eyes toward the mountains;
whence shall help come to me?
My help is from the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.
R. Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
May he not suffer your foot to slip;
may he slumber not who guards you:
indeed he neither slumbers nor sleeps,
the guardian of Israel.
R. Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
The LORD is your guardian; the LORD is your shade;
he is beside you at your right hand.
The sun shall not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
R. Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
The LORD will guard you from all evil;
he will guard your life.
The LORD will guard your coming and your going,
both now and forever.
R. Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
Reading 2
Beloved:
Remain faithful to what you have learned and believed,
because you know from whom you learned it,
and that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures,
which are capable of giving you wisdom for salvation
through faith in Christ Jesus.
All Scripture is inspired by God
and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction,
and for training in righteousness,
so that one who belongs to God may be competent,
equipped for every good work.
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus,
who will judge the living and the dead,
and by his appearing and his kingly power:
proclaim the word;
be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient;
convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching.
Gospel
Jesus told his disciples a parable
about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary.
He said, "There was a judge in a certain town
who neither feared God nor respected any human being.
And a widow in that town used to come to him and say,
'Render a just decision for me against my adversary.'
For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought,
'While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being,
because this widow keeps bothering me
I shall deliver a just decision for her
lest she finally come and strike me.'"
The Lord said, "Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says.
Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones
who call out to him day and night?
Will he be slow to answer them?
I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.
But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"
http://www.evangeli.net/gospel/gospel.html
http://www.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
PRE-PRAYERING
We have a little phrase about our meeting a person by chance, “We bumped into so-and-so today.” Sometimes we actually do bump into strangers in a crowd, or we bump our heads and even bump into another car, and not just with our bumpers.
Bumping means we were brought to a sudden halt. We may enjoy the respite or be annoyed at the delay. We do experience little “bumps in the road” as we move through our days and weeks.
These days, as we live from and toward the celebration of the Eucharist, we can bump into ourselves as we bump into life’s offerings. Speed bumps are meant to slow us down and usually for the safety of others. We can take the bumps to slow down, catch our grace and pray with the little ways and large ones, which are there for the taking. All bumps are not mountains.
REFLECTION
The beginning of the chapter from which our First Reading is taken opens with the grumbling of the followers of Moses, because they were thirsty and God provided for them eventually. They had put God to the test by complaining to Moses who in turn prayed for flowing help.
The second half of this chapter is a win-lose proposition. The Amorites, ancient enemies of Israel, under the leadership of Amalek, came to wage war against God’s people. We hear Moses giving Joshua a battle plan, or at least an instruction to “Go get em!” Moses planned to sit up in the hillside bleachers and watch. Watching wasn’t enough, so Moses stretched out his arms and somehow that worked to the advantage of the Israelites. His arms in prayer grew weary and when they dropped so did the fortunes of the Israelites. So Aaron and Hur held up the praying arms and the victory in arms was rendered to the Jews.
The Gospel readings for the next two weekends will be centered about the theme of praying. They follow closely the final verses of the previous chapter in Luke’s account. The “kingdom of God” or “the day of the coming” are of considerable interest to the Pharisees and too, the disciples of Jesus. They do not get a direct calendar-date answer, but are invited to watch and trust. It is into this context that the subject of prayer is inserted.
Often in the Hebrew Scriptures special care is urged for the traveler, the children, and the widow. Cf. Deut. 27, 19
The first verse sets the tone. The story is addressed to the disciples lest they grow tired of the above-mentioned watching and praying. The judge of the story is a person known in the community as a person who is to care especially for the “widows”. The widow is seeking the just execution of her rights. The judge pays little attention to her banging at his door until he figures out that she might break down the door and literally “give him a black eye”. So, rather than the door giving in to her pounding, he gives in.
The last verse is the important one for the disciples and for us to hear. “But when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?” This is not a story about praying until we get what we want. It is an encouragement to pray so that we might wait and watch for all of God’s comings and goings. It is about the aspect of faith which goes beyond believing in God as a dogmatic truism. It is about believing that the loving God cannot be manipulated like a loving father can be by the winking of his precious little daughter.
We do ask the very good question about why should we pray at all. Is there a mystical number of askings and we tire God out and bingo, here it is! Is there a certain set of words which trips the benevolent bucket? People ask me, a priest, to pray for them as if God has a special ear for priestly prayers. I do say I will pray for them, and that is exactly what I do. I pray that they take their situation to a prayer of watching and waiting for God’s presence rather than presents. What Jesus is asking of the disciples is a faith that combines with hope.
We are generally pragmatists. We put in time, effort, words, works, thought, creativity and expect, yes, demand results pdq! This is not faith, it is business. Apparently God is presently out of that kind of business and into personal and communal relating.
Why are we called to pray? We pray so that we can experience our central human truths. We are not god. We are limited. We desire union, peace, and joy. We love being human until we experience needs, losses, injuries, and fears. We are invited to kneel right down in the midst of it all and have faith, which is not always pragmatically available and not to our liking. We pray to announce our dependencies and our truth that faith, hope, watching and waiting are those things which Jesus is asking for of the disciples.
We would rather have Jesus open up for business and we would gladly be His business agents, consultors and product managers and sometimes, that is how we do pray. We can pray with such sincere hearts and devotion, with great needs and so deep a faith that God just has to see things our ways. “What other way is there!” We pray to be available to the answer to that one.
“See how the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His love, that he may rescue them from death and feed them in time of famine.” Ps. 33, 18-19
http://www.rc.net/wcc/readings/
"Keep praying and do not lose heart"
What can a shameless and unjust judge pitted against a crusty and pestering woman teach us about justice and vindication in the kingdom of God? Jesus tells a story that is all too true — a defenseless widow is taken advantaged of and refused her rights. Through sheer persistence she wears down an unscrupulous judge until he gives her justice. Persistence pays off, and that's especially true for those who trust in God. Jesus illustrates how God as our Judge is much quicker to bring us his justice, blessing, and help when we need it. But we can easily lose heart and forget to ask our Heavenly Father for his grace and help. Jesus told this parable to give fresh hope and confidence to his disciples. In this present life we can expect trials and adversity, but we are not without hope in God. The Last Judgment will reveal that God's justice triumphs over all the injustices perpetrated by his creatures and that God's love is stronger than death (Song of Songs 8:6). The just can look forward with hope to that day when they will receive their reward.
Jesus ends his parable with a probing question for us. Will you and I have faith — the faith that perseveres to the end — of time when Jesus returns in glory to judge the living and the dead? Faith is an entirely free gift that God makes to us. If we want to live, grow, and persevere in the faith until the end, then we must nourish it with the word of God and ask the Lord to increase it (Luke 17:5). When trials and setbacks disappoint you, where do you place your hope? Do you pray with expectant faith and confidence in God's merciful care and providence for you?
"Lord, give me faith to believe your promises and give me perseverance and hope to withstand trials and adversities. Help me to trust in your unfailing love and to find joy and contentment in you alone."
Psalm 121:1-8
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From whence does my help come?
2 My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot be moved, he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun shall not smite you by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.
8 The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and for evermore.
http://www.daily-meditations.org/index2.html
http://goodnews.ie/calendar.php
There is a puzzle here. “I tell you, God will quickly grant justice to them.” So why then do we have to “pray always and not lose heart?” Why do we have to persevere? If God is willing, even eager, to give us what we want, why do we have to keep on asking?
It isn’t about God. There is no reluctance on God's side. Even nature gives you everything it is able to give at the time. The trees don’t begrudge you fruit or shelter, the fields give you crops, the rivers flow willingly for you, the skies don’t shy away. Likewise our Father in heaven: “If you who are evil, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11).
It isn’t about God, it is about us. I once knew someone who would never accept an invitation until he had been asked twice. He said he wanted to make sure that the invitation wasn’t given out of mere politeness. This probably freed up his diary remarkably, but he was happy to know that he was wanted when he was invited a second time. We wouldn’t want to say that God is being precious when God lets us ask again and again. But there is a parallel all the same. I'm afraid we do often ask God for things out of mere politeness and for the sake of good form. In the ‘Prayers of the Faithful’ at Mass, especially, we slip easily into this. “For the poor, the old, the lonely….” How could we take in such a vast swath of human misery in one smooth phrase? I imagine God simply unable to hear smooth phrases. God listens to the heart, and there is often no echo of heart in the things we pray for.
We don’t really want what we pray for. We want half of it. We want the bit that will make us comfortable. Or we want to be rid of the things that challenge us, the very things we prayed for yesterday, thinking they would make us comfortable. So we have to ask many times before we know what we want, or before we know with our whole being that we want it. Would I go through fire and water for it? If not, I don’t really want it; I would like it but I don’t want it. It’s the difference between starving and being ready for your supper. If I really wanted it, God would give it immediately, granting that it was God's providence for me. “Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you” (Mark 11:23).
We want half of what we ask for, because we want to remain in control. If we threw ourselves fully behind something we would feel too vulnerable. We don’t want to lose our grip. But faith means losing our grip, entrusting ourselves, not just a few details of our affairs, to God.
http://www.presentationministries.com/
PRAYER LINES "...the necessity of praying always and not losing heart." 뾎uke 18:1 Jesus teaches us in today's parable to pray in perseverance for our needs (Lk 18:1). Elsewhere in Scripture, Jesus reveals more about how to pray always with perseverance and power: Observe a young couple in love. They spend day after day in each other's presence without growing weary of each other. Therefore, ask Jesus to give you a new heart (Ez 36:26) and open it to receive the love He is pouring out through the Holy Spirit (Rm 5:5). Then your prayer will grow in love instead of growing weary. Prayer: Father, may I pray not because I want something from You, but always because I want You. Promise: "All Scripture is inspired of God and is useful for teaching � for reproof, correction, and training in holiness." �2 Tm 3:16 Praise: Praise Jesus, Whose Sacred Heart has taught us how to love. Alleluia!
http://www.judeop.org/dailyreflections.htm
http://biblereflection.blogspot.com/
☆☆☆
Homily from Father James Gilhooley
A priest was at a boxing match. The man next to him watched a boxer make the Sign of the Cross. He asked the priest, "Will that help him?" "Yes." replied the cleric, "if he can box."
Jesus is teaching us today about prayer in this famous story. The judge taking bribes is browbeaten by a widow into giving justice without benefit of his usual baksheesh. So, Jesus is asking, will not the indulgent Father, who has no need of bribes, give us all the tender loving care we need?
Does this mean that all we have to do is send a fax and God will send our request by same day Federal Express? Negative. Like everything else, prayer has certain ground-rules.
Firstly, we need faith. There is hardly much point in praying if we are at the same time programming what to do when our prayers are denied. It is not, says James Tahaney, our prayers that God hears but our confidence. Say you pray for a sunny day for your holiday. Well, be sure that you take sun glasses and sun lotion when you exit your house.
Secondly, we have got to give God a helping hand. When we are praying to move that memorable mountain spoken of in Mt. 17,20, says Sr Ruth Fox, we have got to remember also to bring a shovel. She say there are two kinds of faith - a blue denim variety and a rocking chair one. With the former, we say we are willing to use the shovel to help get the job done. The latter says we expect God to do all the heavy lifting. The ideal then is to pray as though everything depends on God and work as though everything depends on us.
The boxer opening our homily can hardly expect God's help if he has not gotten into good physical shape.
Thirdly, it is hardly cricket of me to expect that I will get everything I pray for. Nothing in life works that way. Furthermore, if I can turn down another person's request, why cannot God do the same to me? God always answers my prayer, but sometimes He is going to say no.
But the good news we are told is that delay is not necessarily denial. So, keep praying. Babe Ruth tells us it's hard to beat a person who never gives up.
But the record shows too that oftentimes I have been lucky when God turned me down flat. I prayed for a particular job. God gave me a thumbs down. Subsequently, I realized that had I gotten the job, it would have not been a happy fit. It would have been the pits. In my case, Oscar Wilde was on target. "The worst thing in the world is to get nothing you want, but the next to worst thing is to get everything you want."
And it was Truman Capote, the enfant terrible of American letters, who reminded us of the advice of St Therese in his controversial work Answered Prayers. "More tears are shed over answered prayers than over unanswered ones."
My experience teaches me also that when God slams the door shut, He oftentimes very cutely leaves a window of opportunity open. So He writes straight, as we like to say, with crooked lines. He proves to me that though His response is negative, His reasoning can be quite affirmative.
Fourthly, prayer has to be on the level. It is not recommended to attempt to pull God's leg. After all, it's His territory we're working, not ours. So, when you pray, do not use qualifying clauses. Leave the "ifs, ands, buts" at home.
It is very possible to pray for something and not really want it. Think of St Augustine, "Make me chaste but not quite yet." Or Prince Hamlet praying but still determined to get his revenge: "My words fly up, my thoughts remain below. Words without thoughts never to heaven go." The boy that is Huckleberry Finn reminds all of us, "You cannot pray a lie."
Finally, we must learn to turn our backs on, what William Barclay calls, the world's most common prayer, "My will be done." and learn to say, "Thy will be done." The object of prayer, says John Castelot, is not to force God to change His mind but to bring ours into line with His own.
☆☆☆
Homily from Father Joseph Pellegrino
http://www.st.ignatius.net/pastor.html
Remember Amalek! These two words were written on the tomb of an unknown Jewish man who was killed during an antisemitic riot in Paris in 1956. Remember Amalek!
The admonition refers to the Amalekites, the fierce fighters of this Sunday’s first reading. Every nation of the Middle East was afraid of them. No nation could withstand them. Israel could not defeat them, at least not alone. But with Moses’ hands raised in prayer to the God of Israel, with Aaron and Hur holding Moses’ hands up high in the ancient posture of prayer, with the forces of God on the side of Israel, not only was Amalek defeated, this fierce nation was totally destroyed. By Jesus’ time, Amalek was merely a memory from the past.
Remember Amalek! There is nothing impossible with God. There are no enemies too strong for the forces of Israel. Remember Amalek! God fights with his people against the forces of evil, the forces that would destroy the presence of his people upon the earth.
Remember Amalek, and don’t give up. Don’t ever give up. So, you have a real problem with your temper. You’ve tried every dynamic known to get out of situations where you normally explode. And you’ve been successful for the last few months. And then someone who knows you a bit too well pushes the wrong button and out comes the venom. When the volcano stops erupting and the lava is cleaned up, you feel horrible. You are angry with yourself, but you also know that you were pushed into the anger. Now is when you have the choice: Do I keep fighting my anger or do I decide that if anyone says this or that to me, they will have to suffer the consequences. Maybe this temper is more than I can handle. Maybe this is who I am and others have to learn to deal with me. Don’t! Don’t give in. Remember Amalek! God can help you resume the fight. Keep your hands up. We the Christian community are praying for you and with you. We are supporting you, holding your arms up as you pray. We are your Aaron and Hur. Pray for help. Don’t give up. The fiercest enemies will fall. Remember Amalek!
So, you are fighting an addiction to alcohol, or porn, or drugs, or sex, or gambling, or whatever. Let’s say it’s alcohol. You are a member of AA or maybe Alateen. You attend weekly meetings. You have your own devices to deal with various situations where people have a drink in hand. If you are a Teen, you know the parties you need to avoid and do so. If you are an adult and feel obliged to attend certain parties, you have sparkling mineral water with lime or you drink non alcoholic beer. You have been sober for five years and are pretty happy with yourself and are deeply indebted to God to help you fight the addiction. And then everything in life comes down on you. You lose your job. There are problems in the home. You fail a course in school. You break up with your girlfriend or boyfriend. Your marriage is falling apart. One of your parents is sick. So you figure, “This is an extreme situation. One drink won’t hurt. It’ll take the edge off.” You deceive yourself. Of course, you can’t stop at one. Then when the three six packs are finished, or the two bottles are drained, when you wake up, and sober up, you are angrier with yourself then you have ever been. You can’t stand the fact that you are back to square one. You have the choice: trust in God and start over, or give up. It is easy to give up. It is easy to decide that the addiction is more than you will ever be able to handle. It is easy to give up. Don’t.
Remember Amalek! Trust in God, continue to pray and do your best. The enemies of his people, your enemies, will be defeated. It might take AA buddies to hold up your arms in prayer. It may take a whole parish full of committed Christians to hold you up in prayer. Just don’t give up, no matter what! Persevere in prayer. Put up the fight. Remember Amalek! Those fierce fighters were defeated by the Hebrews who prayed and fought, and who had God on their side.
Earlier this year I saw a movie set in a small village in Scotland. It was about an ex convict and the teenage sister that he was raising. He had gone to prison for a violent crime, but was released after seven years, when his parents died in a car accident and his sister was only fourteen. He had served most of his sentence and the prison officials were very pleased not just with his avoiding trouble, but with the fact that he had sincerely embraced religion. He was an ardent evangelical Christian. When he left prison to take care of his sister, he immediately joined a group of determined Christians. He had prayer meetings over his parents’ home, now his and his sister’s home. He took over his father’s job. He did his best to be loving and kind to his sister. It was all new to him, being both big brother and father, but he prayed for her and asked his prayer friends to continue to support him, to help him hold his hands up in prayer. She, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do either with his new found religious life or with his determination to get her to join him in prayer. She was going through a lot of her own problems. She felt he was domineering her. She knew how to get him upset. He panicked when she ran away from home, even though she was nearby at a girl friend’s house. She came back during one of his prayer meetings and kicked up a fuss when he told her to go to her room and stay there. She yelled and screamed from her room and was horrible, vulgar and obscene. He finally had enough, and went up to her room to try to reason with her. She got worst. He lost it. He hit her. Then he gave up. He went down to the prayer meeting and threw all his friends out of his house, literally and physically. He threw out his cross, bibles, etc. He decided that he was a violent man and God couldn’t help him. He forgot about Amalek. He gave up.
When I saw that movie, I said, “I’ve been there. I know that feeling. The feeling that somehow or other, I am not that good. I will never be good enough.” I know the feeling that says, “I should just give up.” I know the temptation to forget what God did to the Amalekites when Moses refused to give up.
Perhaps you have been there too. Perhaps you also know the temptation to give up and give in. Perhaps you also think that there are times you are too weak to continue the fight for the Lord, which is really the fight for yourself, for your own spiritual life. These are the times in our lives when we are the weakest. These are the times in our lives when it is the easiest for the forces of evil outside of us and within us to dominate us. These are the times in our lives when we need prayer more than ever. Today’s reading reassure us. Persist in prayer. A setback can lead to a strengthening, a knowledge of a new situation that needs to be avoided. A revelation that God is infinitely stronger than you are or than I am. He will not give up on me or on you. We can’t give up on ourselves.
With the help of Aaron and Hur, Moses persevered in prayer and Joshua defeated the forces that were attacking the people of Israel. It was really God who defeated the Amalekites. Not Joshua. It is really God who will defeat our enemies, not us. We just need to keep praying, trusting and doing our part to put up the good fight. Your community, the Christian Community, is helping you hold up your hands in
prayer. Jesus has told us to persevere in prayer, and he will defeat the Amalekites, in whatever shape they take when they attack us.
“Therefore I tell you, all that you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it and it shall be yours.” Mark 11:24
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Homily from Father Phil Bloom
http://www.geocities.com/seapadre_1999
Bottom line: St. Francis´ life illustrates this Sunday´s Gospel: to pray with persistence - the most basic prayer, the Eucharist.
Last Sunday we heard about an important form of prayer - gratitude, giving thanks. We noted that the Mass is the greatest prayer of thanksgiving. Sometimes we call the Mass "the Eucharist" - a Greek word that means to give thanks.
This Sunday we hear about another aspect of prayer: persistence, not growing weary, but keeping at it. Persistence also applies to the Mass. If the Mass is the highest form of prayer, we must keep at it - weekly or even daily.
The life and writings of St. Francis illustrate persistent prayer, including the Eucharist. This year I have been making a study of St. Francis in preparation for our World Youth Day pilgrimage to Rome, Assisi and Madrid.
St. Francis left behind few writings, but the authentic works that we do have show the centrality of the Eucharist in his life. For example, Francis wrote a short letter to his fellow clerics (he was a deacon himself). In the letter he says, "In this world we have and see nothing corporally of the Most High except his Body and Blood."* These are words of man who treasured the Eucharist - and who was disturbed that so many took the Eucharist lightly. Francis´life centered on the Body and Blood of Christ.**
That St. Francis received the Eucharist regularly can be seen in his "Prayer Inspired by the Our Father." He gives a beautiful explanation of each phrase of the Lord´s Prayer. But when he comes to "Our Daily Bread" he says simply, "Your Own Beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ." That is the daily bread we should also desire - Jesus, truly present in the Eucharist.
So, St. Francis´ life illustrates this Sunday´s Gospel: to pray with persistence - and the most basic prayer is the Eucharist. As Francis says, the Eucharist is the one place where we corporally see and have the Most High. Like Francis we desire the Father´s own Beloved Son be Our Daily Bread. Amen.
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*From Francis and Clare - The Complete Works. Here is a fuller quote:
"For in this world we have and see nothing corporally of the Most High except His Body and Blood...But let all who administer such holy mysteries - especially those who administer them carelessly - consider the sad state of the chalices, the corporals and the altar-linens upon which the Body and Blood of our Lord are sacrificed. And the Body and Blood of the Lord is left by many in dirty places, carried about in a miserable manner, received unworthily and administered without discretion."
**In his "Letter to the Faithful" (Exhortation to the Brothers and Sisters of Penance) we can see Francis´ reverence for the Eucharist:
"He who does not eat His Flesh and drink His Blood cannot enter the kingdom of God. Yet let him eat and drink worthily, since he who receives unworthily eats and drinks judgment to himself, not recognizing - that is, not discerning - the Body of the Lord...And let all of us firmly realize that no one can be saved except through the holy words and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ which the clergy pronounce, proclaim and minister. And they alone must administer them and not others."
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Homily from Father Andrew M. Greeley
http://www.agreeley.com/homilies.html
Background:
One might retell this story in terms of someone seeking a favor from a politician, say a precinct captain or a ward committee person. Such people sometimes figure that they will lose votes only if they turn down someone who really wants what they’re seeking. If you ignore they’re request a couple of times and they keep coming back, you’d better take care of them or you’ll lose their votes and maybe the votes of their family and friends.
So the one seeking the favor becomes ever more insistent in demands. God, Jesus, suggests doesn’t need our vote and loves as no politician possibly could. Therefore we should keep after God, reminding him all the time that we need his help.
God doesn’t need to hear us, but we need to ask for that help.
Story:
(This is a true story about the power of prayer. No explanation is offered)
Once upon a time an anthropologist, one of Margaret Mead’s many husbands, noted that the natives on his little South Pacific Island prayed fervently over their yam gardens after they had planted them. Very interesting, he thought. Poor superstitious people. They think that prayer can actually improve the fruitfulness of their gardens. So he chuckled to himself about their naivete and credulity.
Then he remembered that he was a scientist and that in principle he ought to attempt some kind of controlled experiment before he dismissed the natives as ignorant savages. So he decided that he would plant his own yam gardens in two spots that seemed exactly similar in style and sunlight. He also resolved to tend each of the gardens with equal care. Then he would pray over one and not the other. Unfortunately he didn’t know any prayers. But he did have a Hebrew bible with him. He didn’t understand Hebrew, but he could pronounce the words from after-school class of his youth. So he read a couple of passages each day from the bible over one of the gardens.
He later admitted that he probably cultivated the garden over which he did not pray with more care, because he really did not want the prayer to work. But it did. He had no idea what to make of the outcome of his experiment and repeated it several times. Each time prayer worked. What does one make of the story?
Maybe that God is a comedian!
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Homily from Saint Vincent Archabbey, Latrobe,Pa
http://www.saintvincentarchabbey.org/homilies/index.lasso
Gospel Summary
The classic way to stay in touch with God is prayer. Small wonder then that Luke writes so insistently about prayer when he shows us how to accompany Jesus on his journey to Jerusalem. Although the ideal prayer for Christians is praise and thanksgiving, there is also a place for prayers of petition, as today's gospel parable makes quite clear.
The story-line of the parable is clear and compelling. In ancient Israel, widows were often listed among the more vulnerable members of society. And it appears that the widow of the parable has in fact been defrauded of her property by unscrupulous persons. Her only recourse is the local judge. But he has long since abandoned his covenant morality and is swayed only by bribes--something that the destitute widow cannot provide.
This unprincipled judge is proud of his freedom from the demands of true religion, Moreover, he is happy to proclaim this false freedom on every occasion. (He may remind us of the agnostic physician in Bernanos' Diary of a Country Priest). However, the persistence of the widow gradually wears him down and finally causes him to grant her justice. The lesson drawn by Jesus is crystal clear: How much more likely is God, the most just of all judges, ready to grant our requests for justice when we are treated unfairly!
Life Implications
The point of this parable is probably more subtle than we may at first surmise. Jesus is not just telling us that we must doggedly persevere in prayer even when no answer seems to be provided. That is true, no doubt, but the real point here concerns our attitude toward God. For many of us, God seems so remote and so insensitive to our pleas that we may feel that he is not that different from the judge in the parable. As a matter of experience, our God does not always seem ready to give us the justice that we seek.
The deeper lesson of the parable is concerned, therefore, with our experience of the reality and presence of God in our lives. It is faith alone that enables us to experience God as One who is exceedingly good and who loves us very much. We will want to persist in our prayers to him, not just because we need his help, but primarily because we want simply to stay in touch with this wonderful Person, who loves us unconditionally. In the long run, this loving God will give us all that we need…and much more.
Our relationship with God is not unlike that of children who expect their parents to respond positively to every request they have. But good and loving parents know that these requests are not always in the best interest of their children. I suspect that many children would quit school or eat only junk food if their parents would allow it. The important thing for all concerned is to maintain a loving and trusting contact, in spite of occasional bumps in the road. Today's parable reminds us that this is even more true of our relationship with God.
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Homily from Father Cusick
http://www.christusrex.org/www1/mcitl/lowhome.html
For bodily weariness there is rest and upon arising from sleep one is able to rejoin the human race with renewed vigor. One may even go apart from work and home for an extended period. But in the task of prayer there can be no rest, for Christ commands us "Pray always". Prayer is the vigilance of one in battle, defending the stronghold of the soul against temptation and sin.
In the Book of Exodus Israel is under attack; Moses, his hands aloft, is the figure of intercession and prayer on behalf of the people in the life and death struggle against Amalek. Only as long as he is able to hold his hands thus will the chosen people gain the victory over their enemies. That he may continue to pray and not grow weary he is seated upon a stone and his hands are supported with the help of Aaron and Hur. Aided thus he is steadfast and the chosen people are victorious.
"The prayer of Moses responds to the living God's initiative for the salvation of his people. It foreshadows the prayer of intercession of the unique mediator, Christ Jesus." (CCC 2593)
Moses’ prayer in the battle against Amalek is a sign only of the greatest warrior and the most awful struggle. Jesus Christ upon His cross holds his hands aloft with the help of the nails; His feet are supported not by a stone but by a piercing nail. His hands are held in place in the perfect prayer for the sake of victory over the most terrible enemy of death which entered the world through sin. Until the last drop of His blood is shed and until His last breath His hands are held thus. There is no rest; the battle is total. All must be given to defeat the enemy of all.
The holy Mass is the experience here and now of this most glorious battle of God over the most fearsome enemy of death. But in order that His victory may be in us and that we may find life unending in Him we must pray always this prayer of victory. We must not lose the heart of sacrifice so that our sins may not tear us from His grasp.
A superficial or trite celebration of the holy rites can mislead and deceive the faithful, lulling us into a lax and casual understanding. The liturgy can become a mere social gathering, an opportunity for friends to say hello or a venue for trotting forth the latest fashions. The crowding of the faithful into the sanctuary, making of it a mere stage, have undermined the truths of the Mass, displacing Christ as the actor who saves sinful man. The role of altar server is for many just another activity for the boys and girls to include on their list of social services in anticipation of applying for high school rather than an opportunity to encourage young men to associate with the work of the priest as an opening to a priestly vocation. These things most assuredly have nothing in common with the death of Christ on the cross, relived in each Mass, and undermine what is most necessary in the life of the praying Church.
We have not been serious as a Church about what we say we believe about the Eucharistic Sacrifice. And we have paid the price. Attendance has fallen as uncatechised Catholics on the margins replace the Mass with sleep, shopping or other more satisfying social events. Young men have dropped out of service on the altar as young women, at such an age much more poised and socially at ease, have taken over their roles. Vestments, sacred vessels, and sanctuaries lack noble beauty. Lectors who have not practiced the reading of the Scriptures prior to Mass leave the people without a proper hearing of the Word. Priests replace prayer with banter and prescribed liturgical gestures are ignored.
The family is the unique school of prayer where the most lasting lessons are learned.
"The Christian family is the first place of education in prayer. Based on the sacrament of
marriage, the family is the 'domestic church' where God's children learn to pray 'as the Church' and to persevere in prayer. For young children in particular, daily family prayer is the first witness of the Church's living memory as awakened patiently by the Holy Spirit." (CCC 2685)
Family prayer leads to and flows from the perfect prayer of the Church which is every holy Mass.
At every moment, all over the world, the Body of Christ is at prayer. In churches, chapels, convents and monasteries, with soldiers in the field of battle or with the persecuted in hidden places, the hands of the faithful are raised aloft in union with the heart of the suffering and triumphant Lord. Our liturgy of the Mass is the upraising of the Lord’s hands on the Cross unto death, that He may then rise to give us life. We must never grow weary of a correct and dignified offering of the sacred rites. The Lord God has proved we are worth it with the payment of the most precious cost: His own Life Divine.
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Homily from Father Alex McAllister SDS
http://www.ctk-thornbury.org.uk/
It is clear that the main theme of our readings is perseverance in prayer.
Moses stretched out his hand in the desert and the Israelites gained the upper hand in the battle. When he drooped through tiredness the Israelites began to lose. Aaron & Hur had to prop his arms up in order that the battle might be won.
What a wonderfully symbolic way of expressing something that we have all experienced! We go to mass and fairly often we take part enthusiastically, but at other times, we certainly droop, we loose interest and feel despondent about our faith. We still go to mass but we can't pray; we sit there all depressed and downhearted.
But prayer goes on around us nevertheless. It is as if the others are holding our tired arms up. This great tide of prayer which goes on around us carries us along with it. Maybe it takes us a very long time to regain our energy but eventually we get there carried along by the support of the others.
One of the problems associated with today’s readings is that, if we take the Gospel story as a straight analogy of God's way of dealing with us we are left with the question: Why does God not answer our prayers straight away?
Why does he so often let things drag on, why does he let horrible and cruel situations continue when we know he has the power to intervene? Why does he allow suffering to persist for so long when the poor cry out to him every day for justice?
Is he as heartless as the judge in the story who only cares for his own comfort and dispenses justice only when his own peace is being disturbed?
Perhaps the best way to tackle this problem is to look at it from another angle. If God is with us all the time he knows our needs better than we do ourselves; we know that he is constantly pouring out his blessings on his beloved even while they sleep.
If this is the case, then he knows all our needs without needing to be told them by us. So we are left with another question: What is it we are doing when we pray?
Are we asking God to change his mind, to do something that he wouldn't do anyway? I don't think so.
What our prayer is actually doing is opening up and deepening and strengthening the channels of communication between ourselves and God. It is we who are tuning into God's way of thinking rather than us trying to get him to see things our way.
When we ask God for something we are showing that we trust him, we are acknowledging our utter dependence on him. What we are doing is letting him know that we realise how much he is already doing for us.
What happens then in prayer is not that we press a button on a machine for a bar of chocolate and if we get nothing then keep on pressing it again and again in the vain hope that eventually a bar of chocolate will drop down.
No, when we pray we begin a dialogue and the longer we pray the deeper the dialogue gets. Often it goes on so long and gets so deep that we forget what it was we first asked for.
We forget because it doesn't matter any more, we have become caught up in the mysterious ways of God himself. We have begun to understand the meaning of some of the suffering and difficulties around us; we begin to see that these sufferings are full of meaning and actually start to recognise the hand of God in them.
I think that what we need to do is to turn the parable on its head. It is not the judge who gives in to the suppliant woman. If the judge were God, then through the dialogue of prayer which she has embarked upon it is she who changes and grows and begins to live a life of love.
It's like a young man going into a shop to buy a pair of shoes and having a lovely chat with the girl behind the counter. He invites her out and he leaves the shop elated; only to realise much later in the day that he forgot to take the shoes with him.
Praying to God for our particular needs is really only the starting point of our relationship with God. Our prayer-life so often begins with us asking for his intervention in life but ends up far away from that, often much later on it leads to us pouring out thanks for the many blessings we already have.
An old Russian peasant was tramping the long road home on a wintry afternoon when he came across a small fledgling that had not quite learned to fly properly. The little bird was almost frozen to death; the peasant took pity on it and looked around him.
He saw a fresh cow pat and had an idea. He made a hole in the dung and put the bird in it, then pushed the warm dung up around the little bird so that it could slowly thaw out and then he continued his journey.
A while later another peasant came by, this one saw the bird picked it up and cleaned off the dung and very carefully put it in his inside pocket next to his skin; the warmest place he could find. He could feel the little bird moving and chirping as it slowly recovered in that warm and dry place. But when he got home he plucked the bird and put it in the pot and had it for his supper!
The moral of the story: its not the one who drops you in it that means you the most harm.
Although we might often feel that God has dropped us in it we know that he has already won the victory, that justice will be dispensed.
Although we might often feel that God ought to do something to improve this or that situation we often, after a long period of prayer, end up realising that his ways are much wiser than our own.
Despite all the evil in the world we know that good will triumph, that those who are downtrodden will be vindicated, that those who suffer will sing for joy.
For the outstretched arms of Moses are also the outstretched arms of Christ.
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