Prayer of Petition

Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time C-2

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 17 (16):6, 8 To you I call; for you will surely heed me, O God; turn your ear to me; hear my words. Guard me as the apple of your eye; in the shadow of your wings protect me.

Collect Almighty ever‑living God, grant that we may always conform our will to yours and serve your majesty in sincerity of heart. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Scripture today: Exodus 17:8-13; Psalm 121:1-8; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2; Luke 18:1-8

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?" (Luke 18:1-8)

Prayer of Petition As we think of the history of mankind and of the religions of man, we quickly realise how normal it is for man to pray. As anthropologists and archaeologists agree, typically, cultures have been religious. Cultures have manifested their character in ritual, religious myth and prayer. Our Lord’s dictum that we are to pray always, never losing heart, is in profound harmony with the nature of man, for man is normally found to tend to pray. We ought live on prayer. As St John Chrysostom, Father and Doctor of the early Church, says, “It is possible to offer fervent prayer even while walking in public or strolling around, or seated in your shop, or while buying or selling, or even while cooking.” Even though in our modern secular world many do not pray, a glance at human history and culture suggests that it is normal, natural and easy to grow in the habit of prayer. In our Gospel today (Luke 18:1-8), our Lord speaks of the prayer of petition. The widow kept coming to the unjust judge with her petition: “I want justice done from you against my enemy!” For a long time he refused, but at last he said to himself, “Maybe I have neither fear of God nor respect for man, but since she keeps pestering me I must give this widow her just rights, or she will persist in coming and worry me to death.” And our Lord said, how much more will God answer the prayers of those who cry to him night and day, even if there is some apparent delay! When we ask God for what we truly need, we are expressing to him our awareness of our dependence on him. We are his creatures and are not the masters of our destiny. Our petition is a real turning to God. This pleases God, and he helps us to pray. St Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans that the Holy Spirit “helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.” God himself comes to our aid in helping us to pray for what we need.

The obvious question immediately arises: What do I really need? It is this that I ought pray for. Our Lord’s whole ministry was concerned with the proclamation of God’s kingdom and its establishment here on earth. God’s kingdom comes to us when Christ comes into our heart and makes his home there, governing every aspect of our lives. We enter the Kingdom of God when we enter into union with Jesus Christ its King. So this is our greatest need, and is therefore what we should especially be praying for. We pray for whatever is necessary to welcome Christ into our lives, and to cooperate with his coming. Father, hallowed be your name! Your Kingdom come! We ought pray for the grace to be dedicated to extending this kingdom to the hearts of others, by bringing them to the knowledge and love of Jesus. To know the love of God! We ought pray that we come to know God’s great love for us, and that we be granted forgiveness for our failure to live according to this love. We ought be like the Publican all our lives humbly saying to God, “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.” Our Lord compared that prayer of the Publican with the prayer of the Pharisee in the temple, and it was the prayer of the Publican that pleased God and made him right before him. We are sinners in his sight, sinners who have neglected and spurned his love. We ought, like the Publican, pray frequently for forgiveness for all our sins — and how numerous must they be! It is a prayer, this prayer for forgiveness, that should be inspired and dominated by the thought of how much God loves us, how merciful he is, and therefore how offensive our sins are. Let us, in the presence of our heavenly Father, pray this frequent petition: Lord, forgive us our trespasses! This will surely please God. But of course we have so many other needs, as do all our brothers and sisters under God. Let us pray for the needs of all others, including those who have died. Let us pray for them to our Lady and to our guardian angel, and to the guardian angels of the ones for whom we are praying. The world depends on our prayers, the world of the living, and the world of those now being purified for their sins in Purgatory.

As we think of our Gospel today, let us resolve to use as much of the time God has given us in life to pray for what we need. We moderns tend not to pray, but we must pray for all we need. We need to know the love of God for us. We need God’s forgiveness. We need the coming and establishment of his kingdom in our hearts, in the person of Jesus his Son. We need so many things. Let us pray often also for others and their needs. Let us, then, ask God for the grace to pray constantly, never losing heart.

(E.J.Tyler)

Further Reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church no. 2629-2636 (Prayer of Petition and Intercession), 2742-2745 (Christian Prayer: Persevering in Love)

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