There is growing hostility towards prayer in today’s increasingly anti-religious climate. During the dark times where evil has infiltrated our society through the actions of another human or even during natural disasters, we see people telling us praying for the situation is worthless. I believe that if we truly valued prayer as much as God tells us to, the world would be a different place. In today’s Gospel reading, we see Jesus tell us a parable of a man knocking on his friend’s door late at night for some bread. The friend doesn’t want to get up because it will disturb the household and well, frankly it’s late. It’s almost amusing how it concludes, to put it in today’s terms: if he doesn’t get up because you are friends, he’ll get up because he wants you to stop annoying him with the knocking.
When we look at the immense mercy and love of God, how then can we not see that He would open the door immediately? Prayer is not just about getting the things we want. It’s also not about letting God know something is going on, after all, if God is God, then He already knows, right? Prayer is about stretching our minds and our hearts, to encompass others in the grace that we have been given. It is also an opportunity for us to change. For us to grow to be more like God, that is more merciful and kind. Prayer should change us. It should make us want to knock on the door for another who needs bread, no matter how much it might strain our relationships with the neighbor friend.
That also means that to be made in the image of God, to truly live our lives out by the Gospel, our prayer should indeed lead us to action. We should be praying for the good of the person, not our own agenda. Our prayers and our actions should be offering sustenance (both physical and spiritual) to those we pray for. What does that mean to me, here and now? If I take a real look at the Gospel for today, it means I need to be praying for all the scorpions and snakes of the world to become food and comfort, and then I should be going out into the world to let God work through me to make it happen.
A reflection on the readings for October 10th, 2019: Thursday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time