💖 HOMILY - OCTOBER 5 💖

First Reading - Galatians 2:1-2,7-14

Gospel - Luke 11:1-4

Prayer has from a highly theological meaning to a simpler meaning. Prayer is defined by many differently. What actually prayer is then? Today the readings invite us to look into our understanding and definition of prayer, does it help us to relate to God or remains shallow and at the peripheral? 

The pericope of the gospel shows, how we are to pray. One of the themes in the gospel of Luke is prayer. Jesus is seen in prayer at various occasions. In today's reading, he is spotted praying. In Luke’s prayer of 'Our Father' Jesus taught the disciples slightly shorter version than the version in Matthew. It is perhaps more likely that Matthew expanded and explained the prayer rather than that Luke shortened it. This version of the prayer begins with the simple call ‘Father’, rather than ‘Our Father in heaven’, a noble and affectionate simplicity. It is the way Jesus himself addressed his Father; it expresses not baby-love (‘daddy’) but a warm adult relationship. ‘Thy will be done’ does not occur in Luke’s version, for it is Matthew who often insists on doing the will of the Father. Instead of ‘give us this day our daily bread’ Luke gives the insistent ‘give us each day’, which stresses the continuity of our dependence on God. Luke’s version also asks for forgiveness of ‘sins’ rather than of ‘debts’; perhaps to Luke’s gentile audience ‘debts’ would have seemed too narrowly financial. 

The main emphasis of the prayer, as taught by Jesus in the gospel, is that our prayer should be that of a relationship like a son or daughter with his/her father. The prayer should be the most affectionate moment for an individual. It's because a son or daughter stands in the presence of the father who is all-loving and merciful.

The first reading gets us in touch with another dimension of prayer that is reflected in the relationship with one another. Paul narrates one incident in this regard; the brief account of the Council of Jerusalem where pagans were also accepted into the fold of Christians without undergoing circumcision. Paul marks this incident that initially he was afraid of being rejected by the leaders to preach to the pagans. On the contrary, they realised God's works through him. This is the impact permeated by the life of prayer where people come to recognise God's ways or hands in the person connected with God.

Dear friends, we do pray but does it evoke an affectionate feeling? This should not be mixed up with emotionalism rather it's more than emotionalism. It's affection. Our God is all-loving and merciful. Therefore, our prayer is to be a moment of being in affectionate presence of God like a son or daughter. What does it mean? It means to realise that we are in the presence of the person who knows and cares for us.

The readings also pose a challenge to us to translate our prayer life in our relationship with one another. It means prayer must be lived in our relationship with one another. Paul translated it and others felt it. As the first tells us that leaders realised God's work through Paul, so also if prayer is lived in our lives our lives will radiate it. It will be also experienced by others in our dealing with them.