Gospel – Luke 11:1-13
Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished,
one of his disciples said to him,
“Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.”
He said to them, “When you pray, say:
Father, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread
and forgive us our sins
for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,
and do not subject us to the final test.”
And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend
to whom he goes at midnight and says,
‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,
for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey
and I have nothing to offer him,’
and he says in reply from within,
‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked
and my children and I are already in bed.
I cannot get up to give you anything.’
I tell you,
if he does not get up to give the visitor the loaves
because of their friendship,
he will get up to give him whatever he needs
because of his persistence.
“And I tell you, ask and you will receive;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives;
and the one who seeks, finds;
and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
What father among you would hand his son a snake
when he asks for a fish?
Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?
If you then, who are wicked,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will the Father in heaven
give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”
Reflection on the Gospel
Let us remember that we are in the holy presence of God.
I came to Rome for the first time in September 1975. The very same day, I was invited to attend the papal audience at St. Peter’s Square. The helicopter was bringing Pope Paul VI from Castel Gandolfo to Rome. I remember the excitement among all the pilgrims when the helicopter made
some rounds above St. Peter’s Square. Minutes later, the Pope appeared in Piazza. He begun saying. “Figlioli”, My dear children, today I want to share with you a great secret; one that was revealed long ago, and that remains a secret because we do not speak openly about it. The
expectation was growing by the second! Is he going to speak about the secrets of Fatima? Pope Paul VI continued: It is a secret that can change our lives! He paused in silence, and then said “Dio e Babbo!” God is Father, Yes, He is our Daddy! Jesus himself revealed this to us!
Scripture today affirms, over and over again, this beautiful truth: God is Father, he is our Daddy! Jesus shocked many of His contemporaries, by referring to God as His Father and by inviting His followers to call God “Father.” Rather than depicting God as a typical Middle Eastern patriarch who wielded considerable power within the family, He depicted Him, Ann Spangler says, primarily as a tender and compassionate father, who extends grace to both the sinner and the self-righteous.
Hearing the Good News today, we can ask ourselves: Is this the God in whom I believe? Is from this perspective that I see and interpret reality, and which inspires my daily life? Is this revelation at the roots of my social and political action? Abraham petitions, in today’s First Reading, “Will you sweep away the innocent with the guilty if you find fifty, forty five, thirty, twenty, and ten innocent people?” open for us the idea of the universal sisterhood/brotherhood. A conviction that finds its deepest roots in the faith of a God who is Father-Daddy of us all!
Ordained in 1978, Domenico Di Raimondo Romo, MSpS, has served in the fields of parish ministry,
formation and leadership, and is the current Director of the House of Prayer for Priests in Orange, CA.
Saint John Baptist de La Salle – Pray for us.
Live, Jesus, in our hearts – Forever.