17th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C

Why do you pray? How do you pray? Do you pray to get things; to gain healing for yourself or for others; or for some other good cause? But quite often, our prayers do not get answered in the way that we want. Then what happens? Do some of us begin to fret and pout, angry that God is not helping us or granting our prayers? Or do we start going for other forms of help, thinking that these would help instead? Or do some of us give up, thinking that God is not going to help us anyhow, and some of us even despair? How should we pray as Christians?

In today's Gospel, Jesus tells us: "Ask and it will be given to you; search, and you will find, knock, and the door will be opened to you" How do we understand these words of Jesus, considering that our prayers are not always answered no matter how hard we try? Perhaps the key or clue could be found in the first half of the Lord's Prayer: "Our Father in heaven, holy be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread." What do these words mean? It means that whenever we pray, we are praying that whatever happens would glorify God and not ourselves. It means that we are praying that God's kingdom be established and that His will be done and not that our own kingdom be established or our own will be done. It means that we are praying that we will depend on him for our well-being and that even our daily sustenance should be seen as a pure gift from God. This is the content and the goal of our prayer, the kind of prayer that God will never refuse.

The problem with some of us is that some of us seem to think we can manipulate and control God through our prayers. For example, if we attend a number of novenas or recite a certain amount of rosary, or we pray the chaplet of the divine mercy or follow some sort of devotion faithfully, we believe that our prayers will certainly be answered. What we fail to realise is that prayer is not magic, or some sort of murgaga or hokus pokus we sometimes see on television. Prayer does not mean we can control God. Instead, true prayer brings about conversion and change on our part, so that we can learn to let God take control of our lives. God does indeed answer prayers. But His answer may not be according to what we may expect or hope for. Sometimes, God says 'Yes,' sometimes 'No,' sometimes 'now,' sometimes 'later,' sometimes 'this way,' sometimes 'that way.' Whatever be the outcome may be, God knows best. Are we willing to trust God and let Him decide?

Today, let us pray earnestly, consistently and with humility, trust and patience, knowing that our Lord knows what is best for us and will answer our prayers according to His time, His purposes, His love and His mercy, and for His greater glory.