C Cycle – 17^th Sunday in Ordinary Time 25

Lk. 17:1-13

The opening words in administering the sacrament of Baptism to a child are directed at the parents. Those words place the initial responsibility of a child’s faith in the hands of the parents.  By asking for baptism, you accept the responsibility to raise your child in the practice of the faith that is to keep the commandments and to love God and neighbor as Crist taught us.  

So, our faith grows from simple songs, reading our children books about Jesus, simple prayers and how much God loves them.  We teach them to pray before meals, bedtime prayers to say before they go to sleep.  At some point we pass off their faith formation to Catholic schools or our parishes programs directed at the faith formation of children, young children are taught simple prayer of faith, love, hope, contrition.  Of course, they learn the Our Father and the Hail Mary.   The faith of a child is amazing, and it is evident that children do take praying seriously.  Remember Jesus said we must become like little children.   

We know the process of faith formation does deepen and intensify as they grow into adolescence.  But it is true the formation in Catholic children becomes elective after the Sacrament of Confirmation. In many homes it is a struggle to get teenaged children to mass each week.  Youth programs such as Life Teen are extremely effective but the percentage of teens attending each week is insignificant compared to the number of teenaged children in the parish.  

The disciples in today’s gospel should challenge us the same way Jesus challenged them.  Their faith formation was exactly like the formation many of us experienced.  As Jews, it was mandatory for every male to be taught the first five books of the Hebrew texts.  Beyond that only the brightest went on to study beyond those first five books.  We can safely say the disciples were not the brightest and their faith formation did not continue beyond their teens.  What they learned was to obey the law and to be present in the temple on the Sabbath.  They could recite the prayers by heart and worship in the traditional required manner.

Jessus challenged their understanding of the law, of their knowledge of the prophecies.  He constantly stressed what God demanded of them was not blind obedience.  The way Jesus prayed was not like any prayer they had ever witnessed.    Jesus prayed often and the words flowed out of Hiis heart.  He prayed was not according to a script or one He had memorized.  His prayer was a personal conversation with God.  His prayer reminds me of my own children ending their night prayer by saying “good night, Jesus I am going to be now.” What model of prayer has our children witnessed?  Are our actions reflecting our desire to be one with God or is it one that meets the minimum requirement demanded by our faith?

The way Jesus prayed challenged the disciples to consider what prayer could be if they liked Him would pray from the heart.   Jesus personally violated the Levitical laws. He healed on the Sabbath.  He did not chastise the disciples when they ate grain without washing their hands.  Jesus broke the law when He touched the lepers.  He chastised the Pharisees for their adherence to the law because they ignored the spirit of the law. Outward adherence was all they cared about.  The intention of their hearts seemed to be to model holiness instead of communion with God.   

Jewish prayer had a structure and when Jesus went off by Himself, he did not follow that structure.  He stood in the presence of God, humbled Himself and sought union with God.  His prayer was animated, raw and flowed from His deepest need or from His desire to do the Fathers will. The disciples wanted to pray in that same free manner.  They wanted to connect with God when they prayed.  They wanted to learn how to leave behind structured prayer and seek the mind of God. 

Did you ever see Jesus pray in any structured way, reciting a prayer?”  The answer is no, Jesus prayed freely unless He was praying a psalm but even the psalms involve emotion and honesty, when used for prayer.  What Jessus said “…when you pray, pray this way” He was giving them a model, a structure for prayer.  It was a formula of prayer.  That formula begins with acknowledging God is supreme, omnipotent, almighty and the creator of all things, even us.  Prayer begins with giving God t glory.  

 Standing before God acknowledging Him as allow us to understand how we are living in the Kingdom of God on earth.  Where miracles happen every day. Where everything we seek is found.  Prayer as Jesus prayed begins with us becoming one with God and surrendering our hearts to Him.  We become aware of our dependence on Him and how each day is a blessing given to us by our God.  We become aware of our sinfulness and how much we needed redemption by the death of Jesus.

Acknowledging His mercy, we must offer forgiveness to those whom we would prefer God to punish but instead we offer the His mercy.  Then conclude by praying for strength to resist the temptations hat will increase the closer we get to God.  What does all this mean?  If we want to pray as Jesus prayed, it requires us to acknowledge we have not yet given our hearts to God.  It requires us to surrender.