PRAYER IS
A HUMBLING EXPERIENCE
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “Prayer Is A Humbling Experience.”
Today’s readings challenge us to reflect upon prayer – more specifically – prayer of petition – prayer of asking – prayer of requesting.
I found this theme from today’s readings about asking prayer to be tough stuff.
I understand prayers of thanks – prayers of sorrow – prayers of awe – but prayers of asking I find my mind hitting a wall at times.
And I’m not thinking of the simple issue of human pride – the difficulty we sometimes feel of not wanting to ask for help, “I can do it myself. I don’t need anyone else’s help.”
So I’m not thinking of the humility needed to get down on one’s knees and ask God for help. I’m thinking of the humbling experience of not understanding how the mind of God works – when we ask God for help.
Do we all say to God at some point, “You ask me to ask for help and when I do ask, you don’t seem to help? I don’t get it, God. I don’t get it.”
Does every person who asks God for something end up wondering, “Does God listen? Does God change things? Does God welcome our nagging prayers?”
These questions bring us right to the nature of God. These questions bring us right to the question of faith? These questions have pushed people away from God?
A child gets sick. A spouse gets cancer. A person is going for tests. Do we pray? Does prayer do anything? Have we ever had a prayer answered?
It seems to me, in all honesty, that at times we’re like a child in a dark room crying for a parent and nobody seems to hear us. Nobody opens up the door and turns on the light – and comes over to the crib or bed and picks us up, holds us and pats us on the back saying, “Everything will be all right. Everything will be all right. Mommy is here. Daddy is here.”
Prayer is often misty, foggy stuff – and that’s why I entitled my homily for today: “Prayer is a Humbling Experience.”
WHO CONTROLS THE WEATHER?
I was at a wedding yesterday and it had rained big time the night before. Yesterday was a beautiful day for sailing. It was a beautiful day for a wedding. And I’m standing there talking to someone at the wedding celebration afterwards – on the outside deck of Carroll’s Creek Restaurant and this man says, “Well, we have this beautiful day because of you.” Translation: your prayers did it. I laughed and said, “No! No! I won’t go there with that one.”
Like everyone, I do pray for rain when we need rain. I do pray for hurricanes to go out to sea – yet I realize I have no clue to the mind of God. Yet, I know like everyone else that hurricanes damage – sometimes big time – but they also bring water big time.
The farmer prays for rain; those having an outdoor wedding reception pray for a beautiful clear day. The football team having a horrible season might love rain. Hey, you never know who might win on a wet or muddy field.
I remember standing there as a kid about to start a basketball game and we’re praying and I look over at the team on the other side of the court. They are also praying. It was a moment of insight. Do we pray for these sorts of things? Does God get involved in high school basketball games?
When Eastern Michigan came here to play Navy back in 2003 the coach called St. Mary’s the week before. “Could a priest come and say mass on the Saturday morning of the game for the team?” I went to the Radisson Hotel on Riva – very nervously – worried that someone might see me. Do I dare pray for someone to beat Navy in a Navy town? Navy won 39-7.
We’ve all seen the movie “Patton” or heard the story about how Patton called for a chaplain to write a prayer for a break in the weather in the Battle of the Bulge. The weather report on both the German and American sides called for continual rain that time in December. The Chaplain wrote the prayer and Patton had 450,000 copies printed on post cards for his army. The weather changed and got better. How do these things work?
What about the millions of people who have been massacred who cried to God for help – and they were shot or burnt or gassed to death?
How does all this work. Does God reverse weather and cancer and football games? Why doesn’t God get all these groups in Iraq to think and then say, “This is crazy. We’re killing each other.”
Prayer is a humbling experience.
DO OUR SCRIPTURES GIVE US ANSWERS?
Today’s second reading from Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy gives some comments about scripture itself. Of course, Paul is talking about what we call the Hebrew Scriptures – or the Old Testament. The Christian Scriptures – the books of the New Testament – were still being formed. Surprise! His letter becomes part of that scripture. He says, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”
The Hebrew Scriptures are filled with texts and examples of people who cried out to God for help. The Hebrew Scriptures are filled with teachings about asking God for help. The Hebrew Scriptures are filled with examples of God answering prayers – as well as the Psalms which often yell at God for being deaf and not answering prayers.
TODAY’S GOSPEL & TODAY’S FIRST READING
Today’s Gospel and today’s First Reading fit together with a stress on the necessity of continued prayer – persistent prayer. Keep asking.
We are being told in the first reading that Moses stood on the top of a hill praying while the Israelites fought down below. When Moses raised his arms in prayer, the Israelites did well. When his arms started to fall, the Israelites would start to lose – and if he raised his arms up again they would fight better. And so they got a rock for Moses to sit on. Then Aaron and Hur supported his hands and arms – one on each side – till the battle was over and the Israelites won the day.
It’s a great folk tale about the power of praying for others. I don’t know God’s mind on all this – but I do know that we do better when we know other human beings are praying for us. We can understand this very clearly from sports – when the crowd and the cheerleaders try to scream and cheer our team to victory. We know that kids look to the stands from the soccer and field hockey fields to spot their mom and dad present for them.
We are being told in today’s gospel to be like the nagging widow who nagged a tough judge till he gave her a favorable hearing in a case. And Jesus said, “Keep nagging God. Keep being persistent.”
And Jesus said, “Pay attention to what the dishonest judge said to himself. ‘I may not be scared of God or human beings – but I’m going to settle in favor of this widow lest she drive me crazy or come and hit me.’”
Jesus often tells us to pray like that. Prayer of asking was one of his big themes. Wake God up in the night – like someone who knocks on a neighbor’s door after all have gone asleep – and the man will open up his door eventually and give bread to the man asking, seeking and knocking in the night, just to get rid of him.
Jesus said, “Ask!” “Seek!” “Knock!”
Jesus said, “Pray!”
And the last line of today’s gospel has that powerful wondering, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Prayer is a humbling thing.
CONCLUSION: A BUNCH OF ANSWERS AND COMMENTS
We pray. We ask God for help! We also wonder at times how God works.
I stand there in the hospital as priest listening to people filled with sickness – and I don’t know what to say – other than to pray for them.
I also know life has term limits – that we need to eat right, exercise - but we all will have our own unique story of death.
Prayer is a humbling experience.
I might make comments at time – but I know I’m in the same boat as this other person screaming in the night.
Last Monday we celebrated the feast of St. Teresa of Avila and one of her interesting comments was, “There are more tears shed over answered prayers than over unanswered prayers.”
Isn’t there a song by Garth Brooks entitled, “Unanswered Prayers” – where he and his wife go to a football game and he spots an old flame and he ponders how he prayed to God many a night that he would marry her and now thinking of his wife in comparison he says to himself, “Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers.”
I love the saying, “Pray for potatoes, but pick up a shovel.”
“Pray for daily bread; but start plowing and planting wheat seed.”
And we all know the story that was popular twenty five years ago. I’m sure you heard it in a dozen sermons – the story about the man in the house who was told to evacuate his house because of the storm and he said, “I am staying in my house and I’m praying to God for help.” The water rises. A row boat with State Police come and once more he says, “I am staying in my house and I’m praying to God for help.” The water keeps rising till he’s on his roof and a helicopter comes and someone screams, “Grab the rope ladder!” and once more he says, “I am staying in my house and I’m praying to God for help.” And he drowns and yells at God for not answering his prayers and we know God’s response, “I sent police to your door. I sent a row boat and a helicopter. So quit you’re nagging.”
We know the story. We know we don’t know or notice how or if prayers are answered at times.
But what happens if a State Trooper of a fire fighter doesn's show up at our door? What happens if we have a heart attacik and there is no helicopter to fly us to Washington Hospital Center? What happens if we don’t experience the great doctor who saves our loved one from cancer?
I don’t know.
Prayer is a humbling experience.
In the meanwhile I do sense that prayers of asking and petition do work when I ask God for strength to bear with life’s sufferings. I sense God helping me with changes of attitude.
I might not be stopping a drought or a hurricane, but I am starting to learn more and more in my attitude how to deal with droughts and disasters.
I sense that Christ made a great prayer for help on the cross and then made a great prayer of acceptance.
Of course, he could have skipped the trip to Jerusalem for a Last Supper. That night he could have skipped the garden and headed north by some back road and lived to 70.
But no: he had the meal – said some powerful things – washed his disciples feet – gave us the Eucharist – and then left the Upper Room, headed for the garden – and prayed some deep, very humbling prayers.
And with his example, having reflected on his life and story, we enter into the realities and mysteries of life – with its good times and its bad, its sickness and its health, till death do us part. Amen.
And we end up knowing that we really don’t know that much about prayer and God and life – and like Christ we have to die and rise to new life – to experience the Father opening the door of the dark room of death, turning on the light, and then reaching out to hold us and embrace us and hear him say, “I am here!” And we will experience the deepest love of forever and ever, resurrection. Amen.
As I said over and over again in this sermon: “This is hard to understand. Prayer is a humbling experience.”
