{"id":834,"date":"2019-07-23T09:17:28","date_gmt":"2019-07-23T09:17:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=834"},"modified":"2019-07-23T09:17:28","modified_gmt":"2019-07-23T09:17:28","slug":"28-july-2019-c-seventeenth-sunday-of-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=834","title":{"rendered":"28 July 2019 (C) Seventeenth Sunday of Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A. <\/strong>The Bible as Guide in Life and Liturgy (Sunday Readings)<\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

B. Reflection & Dialogue: <\/strong>Recall\nto Prayer in a Secular Age<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A. <\/strong>The Bible as Guide in Life and Liturgy (Sunday Readings)<\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Reading <\/em>(Genesis 18:20-32).\nI trust my Lord will not be angry, but\ngive me leave to speak. <\/em>This passage is the continuation of that read in\nlast Sunday\u2019s Mass, in which Abraham showed hospitality to three men,\nrepresenting the Lord. Sodom and Gomorrah had acquired a\nvery bad name because of the sexual sins. Here the Lord God is picturesquely presented\nas wishing to visit the city to see if the bad reports are really justified. At\nthe outset we are presented with the same problem we have seen in last Sunday\u2019s\nreading, namely men, three men and the Lord. The men are presumably angels,\nwhich in a biblical tradition can be taken to represent the Lord, who is also\nspoken of in surrounding verses in the singular. Thus in the very opening words\nit is the Lord who speaks, while soon after \u201cthe men\u201d are said to have gone to\nSodom, while Abraham is presented as standing before the Lord. Abraham\u2019s\npresence with the Lord, and the Lord\u2019s with him, indicate the divine intimacy\nwith humans. In the context of Genesis and the Old Testament the ensuing discussion\nconcerns a deep theological problem, namely the punishment of the just together\nwith the sinners, a question involving God\u2019s justice. Israel had experienced such collective\npunishment in the destruction Jerusalem\nby the Babylonians. The problem may be without solution, and is discussed in\nEzekiel 14:12-23 and the book of Job, and also in today\u2019s reading. Whatever of\nthis original setting, in today\u2019s Sunday liturgy this reading is to be taken in\nconjunction with today\u2019s Gospel reading on prayer. In this first reading God is\nseen as allowing himself to be questioned by a mortal, Abraham, and of being\npetitioned at length, in a sense importuned, to respond to a given request, a\nrequest he grants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responsorial\nPsalm <\/em>(Psalm\n137[138]). On the day I called, you\nanswered me, O. Lord.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second Reading <\/em>(Colossians 2:12-14).\nHe has brought you to life with him; he\nhas forgiven all our sins. <\/em>At first glance the precise meaning of this\nreading is not easy to grasp. It is a kind of shorthand for elements of early\nChristian belief, which would have been clear to the writer of the letter and\nto the first readers. They would also most probably have the various elements\nspelled put for them in the instruction before baptism and later. Together with\nthese factors, it is generally recognized by scholars that some sort of\nliturgical or hymnic formulations lie behind this passage. We may recall that a\nlittle earlier in this latter (second reading for 15th<\/sup> Sunday) Paul\nhad said that God was pleased to have the fullness of God, of divine power,\nreside in Jesus. Central to Christian belief was the resurrection of Christ.\nChrist was raised from the dead by the all-powerful might of God, the same\npower of God at work in baptism and Christian life. As put more fully in the\nEpistle to the Ephesians (1:19-21): Christian hope is aware of \u201cwhat is the\nimmeasurable greatness of his (God\u2019s) power in you who believe, according to\nthe working of his great might which he accomplished in Christ when he raised\nhim from the dead and made him sit at his right had in the heavenly places\u201d.\nEarly Christian baptism was by immersion, and represented Christ\u2019s burial. The\nnewly baptised, in a sense, were buried with Christ, and emerging from the\nwaters they were united to the immeasurable power of God evidenced in his\nraising Jesus from the dead. The Colossian Christians were mainly, if not\nwholly, of gentile, pagan origin, uncircumcised. In ideas of the time they\ncould have been considered \u201cforeigners\u201d, cut off from God, not being of his\nchosen Jewish people, and as sinners. By baptism all this has changed. They\nhave been brought to new life; God had forgiven all of them (Paul included —\n\u201cour sins\u201d). All the demands that could have been made against Christians, the\nhandwritten \u201crecord of debt\u201d that they might have to pay to the Lord for their\nsins, is represented as having been wiped clear, picturesquely presented as\nhaving been nailed to Christ\u2019s cross. Christ died so that sins might be\nforgiven. Christ\u2019s death and resurrection have ongoing influence of Christian\nlife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gospel<\/em>\n(Luke 11:1-13). Ask, and it will be given\nto you. <\/em>All this reading is about prayer, with the Lord\u2019s Prayer as model,\nfollowed by an exhortation to perseverance in prayer. The passage opens with\nmention of Jesus being at prayer. In his gospel Luke lays stress on the place\nof prayer in Jesus\u2019 life and ministry; see the notes on the Gospel reading for\nthe Twelfth Sunday this year. The prayer of John the Baptist\u2019s disciples has\nalready been mentioned by Luke (5:33). The form of the Lord\u2019s Prayer given here\nby Luke differs in some details from that of Matthew (6:5-15), Matthew\u2019s form\nbeing that familiar from the liturgy and Christian prayer books. Matthew may\nhave rephrased portions of it in keeping with his own Jewish community\ntraditions. Two forms of the same prayer would not have been exceptional.\nJewish prayers did not have fixed formulae for all details. After Jesus\u2019 own\nexample in Gethsemane (Luke 22; 42),\nChristians as brothers and sisters of Christ, under the empowering guidance of\nthe Holy Spirit (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6) address God as \u201cFather\u201d — Abba in\nits original Aramaic form. (Matthew has the Jewish form \u201cOur Father who is in\nheaven\u201d.) The petitions pray to the Father that certain things occur, the\nimplication being that he will see that effect be given to them, beginning with\nthe petition that his name, that he himself, be recognized as the true God. The\nmeaning of the Greek word rendered \u201cdaily\u201d (bread) is not at all certain. It\nmay mean \u201cessential\u201d. The bread prayed for is that of daily nourishment, but\nmay also have a connection with the kingdom: the bread that nourishes for\neternal life. The Aramaic word behind \u201csin\u201d is literally \u201cdebt\u201d, retained by\nMatthew, changed to \u201csin\u201d for his Greek readers by Luke. The temptation, or\ntest, one prays not be led into can be variously understood, but is one in\nwhich Satan tries to ensnare and have believers fall. The final trial may also\nbe in mind. The Father is asked to be present with his help in such trials, as,\nof course, he is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            After the Lord\u2019s Prayer Luke gives an expressive parable\nencouraging perseverance in prayer. The Father likes being importuned. The\nFather does not reject such requests. Jesus illustrates this by examples of the\nexpected behaviour of human fathers towards their children\u2019s requests: a stone\nwhen asked for bread, a snake (similar to a fish) instead of a fish, a scorpion\n(similar to an egg) instead of an egg. \u201cIf you who are evil\u201d is a Semitic way\nof saying: \u201cYou, with all your imperfections\u201d. Jesus neatly passes from the\nearthly to the heavenly: If imperfect human fathers pay so kind attention to\nthis-worldly requests of their children, how much more will the heavenly Father\ngive the Holy Spirit to those who ask him. For Luke the Holy Spirit is God\u2019s\npower to bear witness to his kingdom (Pentecost). His presence proves\nmembership of his chosen people (Acts 10; Cornelius). The Holy Spirit guides\nthe Church in its journey through history. His presence should ardently be\nprayed for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

B. Reflection & Dialogue<\/em><\/strong>: Recall\nto Prayer in a Secular Age<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s Gospel\nreading presents an occasion to reflect on the place of prayer in our own age,\nmainly in secular surroundings. Changed practice has not come about merely from\nsecular conviction. It has partly been from a changed religiously neutral\nmindset. In the not too recent past vocal prayer was very much part of the\ndaily routine. There was prayer both in Irish and English for most new\nencounters: God bless the work, on meeting people at work; God bless all here,\non entering a house. These died out rather easily, but grace before and after\nmeals continued in many quarters. Greater knowledge of weather forecasts and\nclimate movements brought an end to prayer for fine weather, or even rain. Prayer\nfor success in an interview with a job prospect seemed natural enough, but even\nhere occasionally eminent Catholics would object, since it implied asking God\nto favour against other applicants! But this is to forget that it is the\nall-seeing good God who sees sides who answers prayers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                The secular viewpoint very\nnaturally militates against prayer even for believers, who must take stock of\nthe situation. Both the practice of Jesus and his frequent prayer together with\nhis explicit teaching on the subject call for a renewal of prayer life,\nespecially for a fuller understanding of the mystery of Christ and the Church,\nfor the gift of the Holy Spirit to guide us, and protect us in temptation.\nRecall to prayer needs to take account of changed situations, the difficulties\nof family prayer, finding ways in which believers who no longer frequent the\nsacraments can keep in contact with God and Christ. Reflection is called for on\nso many issues. But for all Christ\u2019s call for prayer in any occasion remains\nvalid, constant, persevering prayer. See also Reflection for 12th<\/sup>\nSunday this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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