NEVER GIVE UP
INTRODUCTORY RITES
Gather as a family/ community; create an environment appropriate for prayer (dress appropriately - switch off your phones...).
We cannot gather as usual for the Eucharist. But we are conscious that Christ is present not only in the Blessed Sacrament but also in the Scriptures and in our hearts. Even when we are on our own, we remain part of the Body of Christ.
Place lighted candles, a crucifix, and the Bible on a covered table. These remind us of the sacredness of our time of prayer and could help us feel connected with our local worshipping communities.
You may sing or play an appropriate hymn. For instance:
The Sign of the Cross
Greeting and Introductory Words
L: The Lord invites us to the table of his Word: let us bless him for his goodness.
A: Blessed be God forever.
L: Mark Twain’s character Huckleberry Finn once prayed for a fishing pole and hooks. When he got only the pole, he gave up on prayer.
We may have the same experience: we pray for something; we don’t get it and we are tempted to give up on prayer. Today’s readings urge us to never give up on God and prayer, and to trust that God will give us what we need. We pray that we persist in praying and trust that God will heed our prayer.
Penitential Rite
L: For the moments we have given up on God and prayer, we ask his pardon.
Pause
L: Lord Jesus, you gave us a pattern of prayer, the “Our Father”:
Lord, have mercy.
A: Lord, have mercy.
L: Lord Jesus, you gave us an example of prayer
when you spent time alone with your Father:
Christ, have mercy.
A: Christ, have mercy.
L: Lord Jesus, you invite us to ask, seek, and knock:
Lord, have mercy.
A: Lord, have mercy.
L: May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life.
A: Amen.
Gloria
Opening Prayer
L: Provident Father,
with the prayer your Son taught us,
we ask, we seek, we knock at your door.
In our every need,
grant us the first and best of all your gifts,
the Spirit who makes us your children.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God for ever and ever.
A: Amen.
THE LITURGY OF THE WORD
Readings
The readings are those assigned for the day in the Lectionary.
Preferably use a Bible/ Lectionary for reading.
Reading 1 Genesis 18:20-32
Psalm Psalm 138:1-2, 2-3, 6-7, 7-8
Response Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.
Reading 2 Colossians 2:12-14
Acclamation
Alleluia, alleluia.
You have received a Spirit of adoption,
through which we cry, Abba, Father.
Gospel Luke 11:1-13
Reflection on the Readings
Use one of the following ways to reflect on the readings.
Lectio Divina
Imagine you are one of the disciples. What are your thoughts and feelings when you hear Jesus’ teaching on prayer and/or his illustrations?
Sunday Snippets
Winston Churchill took three years to get through the eighth grade! Many years later, in October 1941, he was asked to address the boys at his alma mater. His speech supposedly consisted of five words: “Never, never, never give up!”
This may be a legend! But these words sum up the thrust of today’s readings: NEVER GIVE UP on God and on prayer.
In the first reading, Abraham asks God repeatedly and negotiates with him to save the immoral cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. This is the APU program: aggressive/audacious, persistent, unreasonable!
In today’s gospel, after teaching his disciples to pray, Jesus urges them to be persistent in prayer: ask repeatedly, seek untiringly, and knock loudly… and they will receive, find, and have the door opened.
But for what do we ask, seek, and knock?
Jesus gives us the “pattern” to pray. We ought to pray, first, for God’s name to be made holy, for his kingdom to be established, and for his will to be done. We, then, pray for ourselves: for food, forgiveness (in the measure that we forgive!), and freedom from temptation/evil.
When we pray according to this “pattern”, God – like and much more than a good parent – will answer our prayer!
Jesus’ simple argument is that no father ever refused the request of his son; and so God the great Father will never refuse the requests of his children. A child might not be able to distinguish between a stone and bread, between a snake and a fish, between a scorpion and an egg. The parent, seeing the child reach out for a stone/ eel/ scorpion, knows the child is hungry, and satisfies not the request but the need expressed.
God gives us what we need. Instead of a change in situation for which we may be praying, he may give us strength and courage to face the situation or a new path of action or an enlarged capacity for suffering or looking at things with broader vision. God’s response to our prayer is generous and mysterious: the Holy Spirit.
Will I persist in prayer like Abraham? Will I ask repeatedly, seek untiringly, and knock loudly?
May you and I remember that prayer is to be in harmony with God; to feel the assurance that God is in, around and greater than any circumstance; that prayer is not a trading post, but a line of communication.
May you and I never give up on God and on prayer!
Questions to Ponder
Reflect on some (or all) of the following questions:
Reading 1: What do you learn about God in this story? How does God respond to Abraham’s persistence?
What do you learn about Abraham in the story? What behaviour of his would I like to imitate? How honest and persistent am I in prayer?
Reading 2: “He brought you to life along with him, having forgiven us… our transgressions; obliterating the bond against us…” Why would this action of Christ (the complete razing of the wall between God and humankind) allow us to ask the Father for all we need and know we will receive as in today’s Gospel?
Gospel: How are the sleepy friend and the father in the parables like God? How are they different?
Do I think God already knows all my prayers of petition? If he knows my prayers, what is the purpose of prayer?
The Creed
Prayer of the Faithful
L: We come before our heavenly Father with trust and confidence, and pray: Lord, hear our prayer.
R: For the Church: that, like Abraham, we may grow in our friendship with God and honestly present our needs to God each day, we pray…
R: For government leaders: that God may guide them in addressing the issues of inflation, violence, and the care of creation so that all may live in safety, find housing, and have food, we pray…
R: For peace: that God may turn hearts away from violence, bring an end to warfare especially in Ukraine and Syria, and protect the vulnerable from harm, we pray…
R: For all facing trial and difficulty: that God’s Spirit may strengthen the hearts of all people who are imprisoned or persecuted for their faith or ideologies and fill them with courage, we pray…
R: For health and healing: that God may curtail the new coronavirus variants, heal those who are ill, and protect the elderly and very young from the virus, we pray…
R: For greater stewardship: that we may have the right attitudes and action to care for creation, we pray…
R: For ourselves: that the Spirit may teach us how to authentically express our deepest needs to God in prayer and give us strength never to grow tired of calling upon God for assistance, we pray…
L: Father in heaven, open our eyes and ears to you, to ourselves and to people, that we may know what to pray for and that we may be open to your answer to our prayer, even when it is different from what we expect. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
A: Amen.
SPIRITUAL COMMUNION
The Lord’s Prayer
Spiritual Communion
A: Jesus, I know and believe in your real presence in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist. It is you I desire to love and receive above all things. As I am unable to receive your sacramental presence now, come and be with me in heart and soul. Let my entire self be united with you as I welcome you again and know your loving embrace. Amen.
Post Spiritual Communion Reflection
Lord,
Abraham bargained.
“Forty innocent ones? Twenty? Ten?”
You, his loving abba, surrendered each time.
And Abraham kept asking for more!
You stand at the door waiting for us to knock,
always seeking ways to dote on us,
and fill us with good things.
Let us come to you and plead with you.
Help us to persist in our prayers
for climate change, gun control,
immigrants, starving children,
racism, war.
Thank you for hearing and answering
our life-long pleadings in your way and your time.
CONCLUDING RITE
Concluding Prayer
L: Our Father in heaven,
we thank you for giving us your Son.
May we learn from him
not only to pray to you
but also to let our deeds match our words.
May our prayers prompt us
to commit ourselves more deeply
to bring forgiveness, justice, and love to all,
that people may praise your name.
Through Christ our Lord.
A: Amen.
Blessing
L: The Lord bless us, protect us from all evil, and lead us to everlasting life.
A: Amen.
L: Go in the peace of Christ.
A: Thanks be to God.
Conclude with a hymn. For instance:
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