Homily for July 25, 2004
Year C - Cycle II
17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
by Fr. John Carney
Topic: Prayer
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First Reading: 
Genesis 18:20-32

"In those days, the Lord said: 'The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great, and their sin so grave, that I must go down and see whether or not their actions fully correspond to the cry against them that comes to me.  I mean to find out.'  While Abraham's visitors walked on farther toward Sodom, the Lord remained standing before Abraham.  Then Abraham drew nearer and said, 'Will you sweep away the innocent with the guilty?  Suppose there were fifty innocent people in the city; would you wipe out the place, rather than spare it for the sake of the fifty innocent people within it?  Far be it from you to do such a thing, to make the innocent die with the guilty so that the innocent and the guilty would be treated alike!  Should not the judge of all the world act with justice?'  The Lord replied, 'If I find fifty innocent people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.'  Abraham spoke up again: 'See how I am presuming to speak to my Lord, though I am but dust and ashes!  What if there were five less than fifty innocent people?  Will you destroy the whole city because of those five?'  He answered, 'I will not destroy it, if I find forty-five there.'  But Abraham persisted, saying, 'What if only forty are found there?'  He replied, 'I will forbear doing it for the sake of the forty.'  Then Abraham said, 'Let not my Lord grow impatient if I go on.  What if only thirty are found there?'  He replied, 'I will forbear doing it if I can find but thirty there.'  Still Abraham went on, 'Since I have thus dared to speak to my Lord, what if there are no more than twenty?'  The Lord answered, 'I will not destroy it, for the sake of the twenty.'  But he still persisted:  'Please, let not my Lord grow angry if I speak up this last time.  What if there are at least ten there?'  He replied, 'For the sake of those then, I will not destroy it.'"

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I love these scriptures today, especially the first reading.  It’s playful.  It shows us the power of prayer and persistence in prayer.  It shows us we can ask God for things.  He listens, and he’ll give them to us.  It’s the great story, of course, of Abraham working God in that prayer.  As you know, he didn’t want Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed because his nephew lived there. 

And so, God says, “I’ve had it.  I’m going to destroy this place.”

Abraham said (and remember, he’s Jewish), “Look, if you find 50 good people, come on.  How about your justice?  You wouldn’t hurt the innocent.” 

God says, “Alright, for 50.” 

“Excuse me for being persistent, but what about five less.  For five, you’re going to kill everybody?” 

“Alright, 45.” 

Boy does he ever work him.  And he does that in other places as well.  Moses did that to the Lord, too.  It’s beautiful because it’s playful.  Our ability to play comes from God.  He is the source of play.  It teaches us a great lesson that God listens.  He’s in the dialogue.  He’s not just dictating; he’s listening as well.

That’s a wonderful story, that first reading.  You might want to take a copy of it to work Monday.  “If I find ten good people, I will not destroy the Lab!”  Actually, I think the director used that.  Recently he said,  “If I can find ten good people, I’ll save this place.”  He must have read this Scripture.   I know this is a difficult time, but a laugh or two won’t hurt you.  As a matter of fact, sometimes that’s all we’ve got.  We might as well laugh.  Everyone else is laughing; we might as well enjoy it. 

Prayer.  Everyone knows that prayer is an essential aspect of our spirituality and of our relationship with God.  I bet 98% of us would admit that we are frustrated in prayer.  Right?  At least I am.  “Am I doing this right?  Am I praying enough?  Am I listening?” Most of the time we don’t come away from prayer feeling as they say in Britain, “Spot on” with God.  That’s true of monks, by the way, who pray their whole lives.  You ask them, and they’ll say they experience the same frustrations that we do in prayer.

Maybe there are some misunderstandings that we could talk about.  First, many people ask, “Why are so many prayers not answered?”  We’ve all heard that; perhaps we’ve said it ourselves.  But really, rephrasing that question, are we not really saying this, ”Why doesn’t God do what I tell him to do?”  And the reality is, are we putting God to the test in prayer and finding him lacking. 

Why do bad things happen to people who pray?  If we pray and live a good life, why do we experience death and tragedy?  I guess what we’re really saying is that bad things should happen to bad people.  Here’s the one that the men use more often than women:  “Since God knows what’s best for us, why bother him?  Let’s just watch the game.”  In other words, “I’m too lazy to pray.”  I believe prayers are answered, but in God’s way, and God’s view is always eternal.  Eternity.  How long is eternity?  How long is your life?  How long is my life?  Nothing, in terms of time.  God has his way and he looks on the situation as it truly is, and he sees this little spot of time we call our life in relation to what is eternity.  What he wants for us is what is in our eternal interest.  That’s why sometimes I’ll hear, “How come my husband died?  I prayed.  Why didn’t God answer my prayer?”  If your husband’s in heaven, he doesn’t want to come back.  God answered your prayer and rewarded him with eternal life.

All that gives us pleasure is passing.  All that gives us pain is passing.  Remember that on Monday too!  Only that which is eternal is truly important.  That’s God’s view and that’s the view of providence.  We get too stuck here on this earth.  Malcolm Muggeridge said, “The only ultimate disaster that could befall us is to feel ourselves at home here on earth.” 

Why do bad things happen to people who are in right relationships with God?  I don’t know.  Look at the crucifix and answer that question.  Was there ever a person more in right relationship with the Father than our Lord Jesus Christ?  I think the answer is that God is involved in our lives.  We’re not deists.  We don’t think that God just got this whole thing started and now it’s going on its own.  God is intimately involved on the earth and what is going on.  But he’s not in total control, because if he was in total control, you and I would be puppets, not made in his image. 

It’s like a parent who gives the keys to the car to his teenage son.  You know how that feels?  How old are you when you can drive today, 15?  I got my license when I was 21.  I was a little slow.  You know you’re taking a change, but you respect your child’s freedom.  You want your child to grow.  Your child needs to learn how to drive.  But it’s scary, and I think God realizes that.  He gives us that freedom and sometimes bad things happen.  I am also convinced that there is an element of chance and luck that we don’t understand.  I assume, I know, God does.

Finally, why bother to pray?  Well, Jesus prayed.  If the Son of God had to pray and needed to pray, if that was essential to his relationship with the Father, then I’d better do it too.  I did a quick search of the Concordance of the Scriptures; the word “prayer” is used 358 times.  So the whole Bible is about praying; about talking to God.  Also, we can influence what happens, as we saw in the first reading today.  Prayer is a good thing… 

Ø People who pray are happier. 

Ø People who pray are more at peace. 

Ø People who pray love more because they get down to that place where God is in them  and they have strength and power that people who don’t pray lack. 

When you pray, if you admit your dependence on God; your trust in God, and sometimes we don’t know what we want until we pray.  We certainly don’t know what we need until we pray.  In the process of prayer, the Spirit of God speaks within us as the Scriptures say, and we kind of hear the Spirit working through us.  We hear, maybe for the first time, our true needs; the things that are really important.  You know, what fools we are not to use prayer more. It would be like not using electricity or fire or medicine.  These are wonderful gifts.  Prayer is a great gift as well.  So if you‘re a prayer person, you already know what I’m talking about.  If you’re not, if prayer is not a part of your daily routine, then now is a good time to start.  Try fifteen or thirty minutes a day.  It needs to be a commitment.  You know, the less time you have to make that commitment, the more you need to do it.  We need to believe in the power of prayer, not to believe that God is a Santa Claus.  We need to be childlike in our prayers, not childish.  But we need to believe that God will answer our prayers - perhaps not with what we ask for, but what we truly need:  his love, his mercy, and the eternal life that he promises us.