Homily for July 27, 2025

If you talk with each other and share about who taught you to pray, there will be some similarities – many of us learned to pray at home.   But not all of us grew up in a Christian household, or (even if we did) prayer might not have been a great part of our upbringing.   Still, I think we have all encountered at least one person that we deem so holy; someone that we find to be a model to follow/a model of faith.   They inspire a desire in our heart to have   that love for Christ/that love for neighbor/that fervency in prayer/that selflessness.

This is when Satan enters the scene—to extinguish that flame and that desire for what is holy. (Spoiler alert: the desire for God is never extinguished.)   If anything I learned from C.S. Lewis’s depiction of the evil forces in The Screwtape Letters,is that Satan (the father of lies) works very hard to infiltrate our thoughts, to discourage, to instill sluggishness for what will lead us to growth.   The spiritual battle is often depicted with swords and shields, armor and muscles – all this to help us imagine (we who are very physical creatures) that there are forces working against us   and the temptations that arise from the concupiscence of the original sin.

Although we speak in terms of spiritual “forces” and having “strength,” it can also be misleading some to think that they will never have the strength to resist temptation—a lie that the Evil One puts in our mind (that there’s no point in trying)—and so, we give up before even trying.   That’s Satan’s goal, that we give up in letting God guide our life.   This person, drowned by the discouragement of their past and their (seemingly) spiritual weakness, sees a glimmer of hope when   someone they know lives peacefully.   No, it’s not riches/fame/comforts/pleasures – none of that brings a person true and lasting peace.   It’s Christ.

So, when the disciples saw Jesus pray,   they felt a natural yearning for that.    Lord, teach us to pray.   They want what Jesus has!   Little did they know; Jesus would give them (He gives us) exactly what He has: being a child of the Father.   Even their very request is itself a prayer: Lord, teach us to pray, is itself a prayer!

But we sometimes overthink prayer.   As good as the spiritual battle imagery is, it can also be intimidating and leave us doubting—‘Do I have what it takes to pray?’ YES! Yes, you do!   Here is when I turn to St. Thérèse of Lisieux who said, “I [pray] like children who do not know how to read,   I say very simply to God what I wish to say, w/o composing beautiful sentences,    and He always understands me.”

It is no coincidence that the parable Jesus gives us   to elaborate on prayer   requires that we look to the relationship b/w a parent and their child.   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?   Well, nobody!   And all that the child does is: ask.   Prayer is found in asking as a child does.   We are to be child-like: wholly dependent on God.   This is the relationship b/w God the Father and each of us.   On top of giving us words to pray to the Father, Jesus is also telling us to pray to Him like a child asks their parents: They just ask what they want/what hurts/they say what comes to mind.

Not only that, but also to not grow weary;   Abraham pleaded to God for Sodom; St. Monica for her son return to Catholicism for 17 years.   Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.   At the Last Supper, Jesus said (again) to His disciples: Whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.   Naturally, we grow tired, though. ‘How long do I need to pray for my daughter/my husband/my job?’   Remember that the temptation to grow into sluggishness of prayer and carelessness does not come from God.   If you then, who are wicked, says Jesus, 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?

Even if we don’t get exactly what we ask for: there’s the peace in knowing that the Lord has a better plan/or that we did not see His answer/or that only heaven will reveal it to us.   Our prayer is made in faith, not by sight of what is achieved.

The disciples were accustomed to see Jesus pray until they could no longer contain themselves but simply ask Him how they should pray.   One of the most powerful memories of the faith that I have as a child is that of seeing my own father read the Scriptures.   There was something transcendent of seeing my dad sitting on a rocking chair with the Bible on his lap—there was a powerful peace/stillness/and concentration that I see nowhere else on him but in prayer, to this day.

As a child I didn’t even have the words to say, “I want that,” but my heart said it.   The disciples saw Jesus pray and they said, “I want that!”   Prayer/morals/the faith are best learned – not so much from lectures and books alone. They are best learned by example.   That’s why Jesus became man—not just to tell us what to do but to do what we should do.

The hunger for God never goes away—even in hell;   that’s why it’s a suffering, b/c they eternally separated themselves from God,   but the longing is still there.   We all long for union with the Father, and Jesus has taught us to pray with His words & with our child-like heart,   and to persist in prayer.   If you do this, not only does your relationship with the Father strengthen,    but others will also say, “I want that!”   B/c you have something the world cannot give: true peace and joy.

If your children don’t see you pray, it is not too late.   I’ll say it about me, too: If my ‘spiritual children’ do not see me pray, I am not a good example to you, either.   Ultimately, the One who has taught all of us to pray is the Holy Spirit—the same one who placed the desire in the disciples to ask Jesus to teach them to pray.   So, when you are at a total loss for words in prayer: ask the Holy Spirit, “Lord, teach me to pray.”