27 July 2025 – Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings: Genesis 18: 20-32; Psalm 138, R. Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.; Colossians 2:12-14; Gospel – Luke 11: 1-13
One of the interesting lessons from today’s Gospel is seeing how prayer at its heart is relational. I invite you to reflect on the following points from this perspective.
The first point is Jesus’ response to the request of his disciple. Second is his use of the example of friendship and persistence. Finally, the blessings of prayer.
“Lord, teach us to pray,” was the request of one of his disciples and because of this, we have been blessed by the Lord’s prayer—which, according to online sources, is probably the most recited or offered prayer.
The spirit and grace of the Lord’s prayer was also expressed by the Lord in his Final Discourse in the Gospel of John.
“So you also are now in anguish. But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. On that day you will not question me about anything. Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. Until now you have not asked anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.” (John 16: 22-24)
This is such a reassuring grace of the depth and power of our relationship with the Father and the Son. This grace lies at the heart of prayer.
As a brilliant preacher—who so powerfully expressed his lessons through stories filled with familiar images and experiences—the Lord likened prayer to two friends. One asked for a favor at the oddest time of the day, and the other at first refused.
Then the Lord pointed out the power and importance of persistence.
READ: Letting contemplation guide our actions
Asking and receiving what’s best for us
Looking at this from another perspective, the late Fr. Joe Cruz, S.J. mentioned during our eight-day retreat that true friendship gives us the confidence to ask a friend for whatever we need and we trust that they will listen to us. He added that our friend may not always give us what we ask for, but knowing we were listened to matters so much to us.
In a recent talk that Dr. Honey Carandang gave in the opening session (Nurturing Mental Health in the Community) of the mental and spiritual health series of Magna Anima Teachers College and the Likha Arts Hub in Santa Rosa City, she emphasized the paramount importance of listening. When we listen to another person, we are communicating to that person that they matter to us.
This is our experience with God. When we ask, we know He listens to us. And He may not give us what we ask for, but He will always listen and give us what is best for us.
I draw inspiration from the Lord’s own experience with his Father, when in the Agony in the Garden, he asked to be spared. After expressing what was deepest in his heart, he then surrendered to whatever the Father’s will was.
The persistence in asking from a real friend is marked by trust and surrender. It trusts that we are listened to. It means being open in humble acceptance or surrender that our friend—from whom we ask—will give us what is best for us.
READ: To those who continue to move
Prayer blessings
And finally, the blessings of prayer.
“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?” (cf. Luke 11:1-13)
The blessings of prayer is the gift of the Holy Spirit. There is no greater grace than this gift which completes the Trinitarian presence in our life—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
“Lord, teach us to pray.” May this be spoken in the depths of our heart and spirit, and trust, with great confidence, that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit listen to us because we matter to them with great love.
And they will come to us and make their dwelling in us—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
