Cycle C - Year II:  

24 July 2022: Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 

(Liturgical Color: Green)

Readings:

First Reading:        Genesis 18:20-32

Second Reading:   Colossians 2:12-14

Gospel:  Please Read  Luke 11:1-13 

Let us pray the "Our Father"!

Two young boys were in animated conversation: One asks the other: "Are you related to anyone famous?"

The other boy replies, "I don't want to brag, but I heard Daddy calling God his Father!"    

In the Gospel incident this Sunday Jesus Himself tells us to call God "Our Father" as He teaches the disciples how to pray.

The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. In response, Jesus gives them the prayer of the "Our Father".

The "Our Father" is such a beautiful prayer that comes from our Lord Jesus Himself. It has all the essential elements of a prayer as we are taught in our Catechism, such as "adoration of God" (in the words "Hallowed be Thy name"), "contrition or repentance for the sins committed ("Forgive us our trespasses"), and then "supplication", when we request God to give us the food we need to sustain our body ("Give us this day our daily bread"). So it is a complete and essential prayer.

And it is with confidence and boldness that we can approach God as our Father because our Lord Jesus Christ has opened the way to heaven for us through His death and resurrection.

In the words of the "Our Father", Jesus teaches us to call God our Father and a true Friend.  Jesus explains what "fatherhood" is all about. It means having the best interest of his children in mind and knowing how to meet them.  God as a "friend" means we can approach Him  with any need we have at any time.

The second point in our reflection is that Jesus wants us to understand the love that the Father has for us, and reaffirms persistence in prayer.  The Father will give us what we need from persistent prayer.

So that when we ask God for help He fortunately does not give us what we truly deserve, sinners that we are, but instead God responds with grace and mercy. That is why God is truly our Father!

We can pray with expectant faith because our heavenly Father loves us and treats us as His children. He is the Father who so loves the world that He sends His only Son Jesus Christ to save us from sin. And He has freely poured out the blessing of the Holy Spirit upon us that we may be filled with the abundance of His provision.

In our practical life, we can pray in one of two ways: as a trusting child or a persistent friend.  And either way, believe that God to whom we are speaking will listen when we continue speaking with Him and believing that God has our best interest in mind always.

Today is also World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly. Let us include them in our prayers for their love and sacrifices for our families and communities.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!