GOD’S WORD FOR THE DAY (based on Catholic Liturgical Readings)
DATE: 6TH OCTOBER 2016
THURSDAY OF THE 27TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
1ST READING: Galatians 3:1-5
CANTICLE: Luke 1:69-75
GOSPEL: Luke 11:5-13
THEME: PERSEVERANCE IN PRAYER
We are in a world where everything appears to be moving very fast. Just look around you and you would see posters and bill boards welcoming you to a fast world. For example, we are conversant with terms like fast-food, fast-internet, fast-track court, fast lane, fast trains etc. The unfortunate side effect of living in such a fast world and imbibing its mentality is that many of us have lost the virtue of patience and the ability to wait. We want it NOW and if we do not get it NOW, we go “wild”. In short many have become impatient.
We often carry this attitude of impatience into our prayer life. A person puts his/her request before God in prayer and when it appears that God is delaying, the person stops praying and pursues a path which may be detrimental to his/her faith. A lady prays for a husband and when God does not respond immediately, she snatches someone’s husband. A young man prays for a good job and when God “delays” he resorts to corrupt deals. A couple prays for a child and when there appears to be no sign from God, they lose faith and stop going to church.
In our Gospel text for today, Jesus invites us to have the right attitude in prayer. Using a parable of a man who goes to a friend at midnight and perseveringly requests for bread, Jesus drives home the need to persevere in prayer and tells his audience, “I tell you, if the man does not get up and give it to him for friendship’s sake, persistence will make him get up and give his friend all he wants. So I say to you: Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; everyone who searches finds; everyone who knocks will have the door opened” (Luke 11:8-10).
The point that Jesus makes in this text is that God answers prayers and that we should not easily give up when seeking his face in prayer. We need to ask until we receive, search until we find and knock until the door opens. Something always happens when a person perseveringly prays.
Do you feel like giving up on prayer because God seems not to answer or he appears to be delaying? Remember the saying, “Delays are not denials.” Hold on to your faith and keep on praying. In God’s time, he makes all things beautiful.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, I don’t mind waiting upon you. I will wait in prayer until your light shines forth in my darkness. Amen.
Andrews Obeng, svd
DIVINE WORD MISSIONARIES
BIBLICAL PASTORAL MINISTRY
(Ghana Province)
“May the darkness of sin and the night of unbelief vanish before the light of the Word and the Spirit of grace. And may the heart of Jesus live in the hearts of all people” (St. Arnold Janssen).