Archbishop of Sydney

His Eminence,
Cardinal George Pell
Cardinal Priest of the Title of S. Maria Domenica Mazzarello

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Home > Our Archbishop > Homilies 2001 > Article	Printable Version

Jesus teaches his disciples to pray

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Luke 11:1-13

By + George Pell
ARCHBISHOP OF SYDNEY
29 July 2001

How many of us would ask to be taught how to pray?

We might reply, that we pray already at Mass and every day and therefore the question is a bit superfluous. Perhaps we would ask "how can we pray better?"

Do we pray because that is the way we communicate with God? Or are we urged to pray, because this is one way to be healthy and whole? We have heard that cancer patients are urged to meditate regularly; that people who are stressed are also urged to do this. Is praying first of all like physical exercise, spiritual jogging or walking, to keep us healthier a bit longer?

To ask how we should pray signifies that we are already interested in religion and probably interested in God. It is a different question from asking, "What should I do to be happy?" or "How do I lead a good life?" Some few answer these questions in non-religious ways and even a few people pray without referring their prayer to God at all. They see prayer as part of a journey inwards, to the heart of our personality, where we try to know ourselves better and understand how we fit into the scheme of things. The best of those who follow that approach also strive to liberate themselves from selfishness, to transcend that persistent inclination that each one of us has to look after No. 1, to put ourselves first to the detriment of others.

When we turn to the Our Father, the prayer Jesus gave in response to the request that he teach about prayer, we are in a different world from the one I was just describing. There are two worlds, two points of view about prayer and worship. Jesus' world of prayer struggles towards God with the innocent confidence of a child; the other world sees prayer in terms of health or even entertainment. I remember a university student telling me that she now went to the gymnasium every Sunday morning and claimed she always felt better after the exercise than she did coming out after Mass and a sermon. At a physical level this would have been certainly true; at a spiritual or psychological level the situation could be otherwise, but ultimately that still is not the point.

We do not love other people because it makes us healthier, although this is true. Hate dries up the heart and brings unhappiness. We love other people because we should, even when they are sometimes unlovable.

Our Lord's Prayer begins by calling God "father" – something we take for granted although some feminists object to the term. Then it was unusual, perhaps unprecedented to call God by the name children and adults use when talking to their father. "Abba" would probably be better translated to as "dad" – not daddy because it is not a term used only by young children.

A writer recently pointed out (quite correctly) that calling God father is an extra blessing, an advantage for women and sometimes a significant difficulty for men. The father–son relationship is one of the most delicate human relationships and young men and women badly treated by their fathers find it hard to think of God in these terms. Daughters usually find it easier to relate to their fathers.

So our Lord places us in the category of confident young children. The first sentences of the Our Father are directed to God. Our Father who is in heaven, may your name be blessed, may your kingdom come. In Matthew's version, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Then as it goes on we pray for ourselves. Give us this day our daily bread. Some have said we should not be asking God for things we need. And some people have asked whether "our daily bread" really means only things spiritual. But the consensus seems to be that our Lord was primarily talking about the daily things we need.

We pray for forgiveness. Every one of us needs forgiveness and our Lord explains the way to the forgiveness we ask for lies in the way we forgive others. And forgiving others is the hardest part of following Christ.

In the Gospel we finish with two other little stories. One explains the importance of persistence, and it is interesting that Luke should put them together and that our Lord should even have talked about God as being like a bad judge. Our Lord is certainly urging us to persist in prayer, especially on those occasions when there seems to be no movement at all.

Then our Lord goes on to explain why that is so, because the Father is someone who loves us. A good father never gives his children the opposite of what they need. When we pray in the silence and to the void, we have these words of Jesus to comfort us, even though things do not seem to be going the way they should. The good God is still hearing us, answering us and looking after us, and eternity will balance things out.

The Church should be many things. We should be a community where we are true to ourselves and to what Christ wants of us, but certainly the Church must also be a school of prayer. The school of prayer does not just teach the words of prayer; it helps young people to pray. We learn by praying and doing. We learn by following the examples of others. So let us pray that all our young people in some way will catch this flame of faith; that they will not only know their prayers, but they will know how to pray and will pray regularly.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen