PRAYER THAT MOVES GOD

Lay people make up about 99% of the Church. The pope, bishops, priests, deacons and religious make up the rest. Now, God reveals Self and speaks to all of us. The Church officially recognizes this, calling it sensus fidelium. So today, instead of a homily, I thought we would take a few minutes of silence to see what God wants to say to each of us. What do you think? [Pause]

OK, I’ll give you my take. There are two key themes in today’s readings: first that we are called to be inclusive, and secondly the power of prayer. Is there's anything our country needs more today than prayer and to be united?

A leading politician dies and goes to heaven. As St. Peter escorts him in, he is shocked to see members of the other political party. They, in turn, stare at him and are speechless. He asks St. Peter, Why are they speechless? St. Peter replies, Because you're the last person they expected to see you here.

If there’s anything Jesus taught us, it is that we are called to be inclusive – to be one - not "us" and "them". Indeed that was his last prayer…not just to be kind in church, but to change our way of thinking...our way of living.  

Let’s look at today’s readings. From Isaiah, Foreigners will worship in my temple…for my house shall be a house of prayer for all. In our Responsorial Psalm we sang, Let all the nations praise you. In the Letter to the Romans, St. Paul speaks of God’s mercy upon all.

And in our gospel, Jesus goes to pagan territory and there encounters a Canaanite - ancient enemies of Israel. Why did Jesus go to Tyre and Sidon? Perhaps, down deep he knew, as he says to his disciples at the end, Go to all nations and proclaim the Good News of God’s great love for all.

One thing we know for sure is that Jesus was not exclusive. He ate with all kinds of sinners: Pharisees, prostitutes, and tax collectors. He loved all. Still does.

We know this, and we seek to be most welcoming and inclusive at Our Lady of Good Counsel. But does this carry over into the rest of the week?

We are called Christians because we are his disciples …we want to follow him…to have that same attitude…especially when we gather to pray and break bread in God’s house.

But even more important than whether we receive Holy Communion is how we live holy communion.

Now regarding the second theme, we all love our children and know what’s best for them. We know what we need to do for their best interest. Still, at times, they have a way of changing our minds.

Does that also happen with God? Well, amazingly, that is what happened in our gospel passage. The Canaanite woman spoke up to Jesus and caused him to change his mind. 

Jesus said he was not there to cure Gentiles, but when he saw the faith of this mother, he was moved to do it. He saw things differently and did something he hadn't intended to do. The Canaanite woman caused him to change his mind, and make a miracle happen.

The first thing to bear in mind is that today's gospel passage is not just some historical story, but rather it is the Word of God speaking to us live today. What is God saying to us?

Perhaps that we shouldn't be all that surprised that our prayer can move God, just as Jesus was moved to change his mind. In part, this was because Jesus was a human being, like us in all things but sin. Though we may not think of him that way. 

We must remember that Jesus accepted human limitations - he got hungry and thirsty, just as we get hungry and thirsty. He had to learn to read. He had to die, as you and I have to die. And, like us, he sometimes changed his mind.

But perhaps there’s more. Perhaps, since we are made in the image and likeness of God, our willingness to change our mind also reflects God’s willingness to do so as well.

This has great implications for prayer. Some people say, Why should I ask God for this or that? God already knows everything and God knows what I'm going to ask before I ask it. Besides, God is changeless.

Let’s not be so quick. Remember God is a mystery. Let us not pigeon-hole God as if we know all about God and how God behaves. More importantly, we’ve all experienced the power of prayer. Perhaps our prayer does indeed influence God.

By “prayer” we mean not just going through the motions. There is a real conversation going on, as there was with the woman in today's gospel passage. Which means that prayer is nothing more than simple conversation...and we all know how to converse...we talk and we listen...heart-to-heart.

The Canaanite woman reminds me of another resourceful and witty woman - St. Teresa of Avila, who lived 500 years ago. She had a very special relationship with God, and she wrote a great deal, describing her experiences with God. One of the famous stories about her is the time she was riding in a donkey cart and it was overturned, throwing her into the mud. She said to Jesus, If this is how you treat your friends, no wonder you have so few of them!

In one of her books, Teresa gives us some advice on prayer: Remain in the Lord's presence continually, and speak to him, pray to him in your necessities, and complain to him about your troubles; be merry with him in your joys. All this you can do without set prayers, but with words that come from the heart. 

In another place she simply says, Avoid being bashful with God, as some people are. 

That's a refreshing thought. We need to give that a try... perhaps today, this week. I suspect that few of us really talk to Jesus that way. We can learn from the Canaanite woman and from St. Teresa. 

We might discover how close Jesus really is to us, and how close we are to him. We might discover how easy it is to pray. After all, Jesus is our brother. And we can talk to him as one of the family.

We might also discover that prayer can move God and make miracles happen.