Dispositions of Prayer

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This coming Sunday is the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Lectionary Cycle C. This gospel of the Pharisee and tax collector in prayer follows the parable of the persistent widow and the unjust judge (18:1-8).  “Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. (Luke 18:10) While the common thread is certainly prayer, there are other aspects which bind together these two narratives. One of Luke’s ongoing themes is the inclusivity of the Gospel. In these two parables, God who hears all prayers is addressed by a (saintly and probably poor) widow and the sinful (and probably rich) male tax collector. Luke continues to demonstrate that the Reign of God is open to all – a message of keen importance to his Gentile audience. Continue reading →

The arc of prayer

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In the epic novel The Lord of the Rings, the elves of Lothlorien admit that they are losing their forest lands. But they battle on. They describe their struggle as “fighting the long defeat.” This is the source of the comment made by Paul Farmer, who fought a “losing battle” for health care for the poor. Farmer was a physician and medical anthropologist who co-founded “Partners in Health”, an NGO committed to the idea that good public health and medicine was possible to poor areas of the world. In Tracy Kidder’s biography of Farmer (Mountains Beyond Mountains) Farmer says, “I have fought the long defeat and brought other people on to fight the long defeat, and I’m not going to stop because we keep losing… I actually think sometimes we may win… So, you fight the long defeat.” His life and work reminds me of the persistent widow. Continue reading →

Entanglement

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In Genesis 2:18 we read, “The LORD God said: It is not good for the man to be alone.” It is the prelude to the creation of a partner for Adam, but it also speaks of what is a fundamental reality: we are social creatures in relationship with others. Why? Nature, nurture, we are wired that way, biological imperative, and the list is as long as the areas of study which consider the questions. It is a tangle of theories of why we are entangled in relationships. Here’s my take on such entanglement: God made the entire universe that way. The universe is intrinsically entangled at the quantum level. Continue reading →

A Final Word from Jesus

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This Sunday is the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Lectionary Cycle C. Today is the final post on the parable of the unjust judge and the persistent widow. Today we hear Jesus: 7 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? 8 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?” Continue reading →

The Widow

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This Sunday is the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Lectionary Cycle C. In yesterday’s post we looked in detail at the judge. Today we turn our attention to the persistent widow. The entire parable rings with the echo of Sir 35:14-24 (note: depending on translation you find verse numbering slightly different – also, this is part of the OT reading for the 30th Sunday in Year C) Continue reading →

Mornings

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For many years, I arose in the morning darkness to head out to swimming practice. Even now, in order to swim before the demands of the day (and horrible traffic on Interstate 95) make such an endeavor problematic, year of habit lead me to naturally wake up at 4:30 am. I don’t always swim, but I am almost always up. Also ingrained is the habit of making up my bed and prayer as first things. I suspect many readers are thinking, “What….??? let me alone. I am just fine, warm and cozy under my blanket, thank you very much.” Why would I want to leave this comfortable cocoon of happiness? Continue reading →

The Judge

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This Sunday is the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Lectionary Cycle C. Today we consider the Judge:

2 “There was a judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected any human being. 3 And a widow in that town used to come to him and say, ‘Render a just decision for me against my adversary.’ 4 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, 5 because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her lest she finally come and strike me.’” 

Continue reading →

The hand that reaches out

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The Lord said: “Woe to you Pharisees!… You are like unseen graves over which people unknowingly walk.” (Luke 11:42).

Not for all the tea in China would I watch a horror movie. Even at my age they would still induce nightmares. It has been 48 years and even thinking about “The Exorcist” can still send me into cold sweats. Freddy can stay on Elm Street with all the rest of his nightmarish fellow fiends. Continue reading →

A Judge and a Widow

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This Sunday is the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Lectionary Cycle C.  After several days of important context, today we move into the heart of the parable. This parable is a twin of the parable of the neighbor in need (Luke 11:5-8). Both are used to illustrate the importance of persistence in prayer. Both present a person in need persistently pressing a request, and both parables call for reasoning from the lesser to the greater: If a neighbor or an unjust judge will respond to the urgent need and repeated request, then will not God also respond? It is an argument from lesser to the greater by which Jesus affirms the faithfulness of God – He will assuredly act on behalf of the righteous. Continue reading →

St Augustine on Prayer

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Just a quick note with a link to a very long read on the topic of prayer: St. Augustine’s Letter 130, “To Proba, a Devoted Handmaid of God.” It is at least a 30 minute read, robust in its treatment of prayer and filled with Scriptural references. You can find the letter online here.

The letter begins as such:

Recollecting your request and my promise, that as soon as time and opportunity should be given by Him to whom we pray, I would write you something on the subject of prayer to God, I feel it my duty now to discharge this debt, and in the love of Christ to minister to the satisfaction of your pious desire. I cannot express in words how greatly I rejoiced because of the request, in which I perceived how great is your solicitude about this supremely important matter.

I think it will take a little “stick-to-it-ness” to follow Augustine’s thought and to absorb all that he offers on the topic of prayer. I also think it will be impossible not to walk away with some “seeds” that will give you fruit for reflection.