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Title
Praying so that the Father Answers Us
Outline
When our prayers are not answered, it is often because we are acting like small children
We have been observing a small child recently and have been remembering our own.
Small children ask often, but they often ask for what is not good for them or what they will not eat, rejecting the healthy provision of their parents.
They may even ask for what is dangerous, which is one reason that they need to be watched.
I remember watching Sr Monica Marie guiding a line of small students into St Helen for mass.
She knew that they may have gone in an orderly fashion without her, but she also knew that one might dart into the drive and perhaps some others get into a tussle.
Sometimes we do not ask rightly because we do not think we have a need.
Apollos was learned in the scriptures and knew that they pointed to the Messiah, but did not know anything beyond John the Baptist.
Priscilla and Aquila did not correct him publicly, but “took him aside and explained to him the Way [of God] more accurately.”
Notice the tone: not “you are wrong,” but “you are right, but this and this have also happened.”
When he wanted to travel on, they did not insist on a longer course of instruction nor were they concerned that his eloquence would overshadow Paul.
Instead, they wrote letters commending him and so the Church in Corinth profited and grew.
Apollos had not known that he needed to ask, but he drank in the needed completion of his message because God provided it in the attitude and tone.
Sometimes we need to ask for the right thing
We tend to ask for health, wealth, success on the job, etc., which are all this worldly.
We may or may not need them - some day each of us will need sickness or accident so that we can get the great good of being with Jesus.
Notice, however, what Jesus says, “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.”
The issue is “question me about anything” as they had been doing, trying to understand the faith.
This is that which the Father will give them if they ask “in my name.”
We do ask for daily bread day by day, but our first request is for God’s kingdom and with that eyes to see when and where and how the kingdom is coming.
We need most to know our Father better.
So let us watch our prayers
When my son-in-law ran a power tool into his hand on Tuesday, I am sure he prayed (when his mind was focused enough) and his wife called us to pray, for that meant that he cannot work for a while.
But his deeper prayer should be and probably is, “Where are you in this, Lord?” and “How can this teach me to know you better?”
Some of us need to pray better or more deeply like that, and if we fail to do so, it is no wonder that our prayers are not answered.
At other times we really do not know what to pray for, and then we need to gentle, affirming word of correction that helps us be on track “more perfectly.”
I see both of these in Francis de Sales, to whose work I have been listening this week.
But the nub of the issue is whether I see them in my own life.
Readings
FIRST READING
Acts 18:23–28
23 After staying there some time, he left and traveled in orderly sequence through the Galatian country and Phrygia, bringing strength to all the disciples.
24 A Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, an eloquent speaker, arrived in Ephesus.
He was an authority on the scriptures.
25 He had been instructed in the Way of the Lord and, with ardent spirit, spoke and taught accurately about Jesus, although he knew only the baptism of John.
26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue; but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the Way [of God] more accurately.
27 And when he wanted to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him.
After his arrival he gave great assistance to those who had come to believe through grace.
28 He vigorously refuted the Jews in public, establishing from the scriptures that the Messiah is Jesus.
RESPONSE
Psalm 47:8a
8 For God is king over all the earth;
sing hymns of praise.
PSALM
Psalm 47:2–3, 8–10
2 All you peoples, clap your hands;
shout to God with joyful cries.
3 For the LORD, the Most High, is to be feared,
the great king over all the earth,
8 For God is king over all the earth;
sing hymns of praise.
9 God rules over the nations;
God sits upon his holy throne.
10 The princes of the peoples assemble
with the people of the God of Abraham.
For the shields of the earth belong to God,
highly exalted.
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
John 16:28
28 I came from the Father and have come into the world.
Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”
GOSPEL
John 16:23b–28
23 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.
24 Until now you have not asked anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.
25 “I have told you this in figures of speech.
The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures but I will tell you clearly about the Father.
26 On that day you will ask in my name, and I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you.
27 For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have come to believe that I came from God. 28 I came from the Father and have come into the world.
Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”
Notes
SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2022 | EASTER
SATURDAY OF THE SIXTH WEEK OF EASTER
YEARS 1 & 2 | ROMAN MISSAL | LECTIONARY
First Reading Acts 18:23–28
Response Psalm 47:8a
Psalm Psalm 47:2–3, 8–10
Gospel Acclamation John 16:28
Gospel John 16:23b–28
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