Wednesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 463

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished,
one of his disciples said to him,
"Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples."

How do you do that? Seeing something beautiful, graceful, or remarkably clever we might ask someone to teach us how to do that. Paleontologists are sometimes astonished at how quickly ideas like stone tools, musical instruments, and forged metals spread from place to place. The fossil and relic evidence shows the new inventions appearing at great distances apart, and yet within the same time frame. It doesn't take long for a new idea to overcome resistance when it clearly improves our life and eases its challenges. 

The disciples, watching how Jesus acted and spoke admired and wanted to emulate him. They must have been especially astonished at how he encountered opposition without getting upset. He might even sharply rebuke someone and cause great upset around him, as when he generated a one-man riot in the temple, and then regain his composure quickly as he spoke to his disciples or addressed someone's illness. 
"How do you do that?" they asked. 

And when they saw him praying with such obvious contentment, they wanted to find the same reassurance in prayer. 

Many people have told me they "pray all the time." I sometimes ask them -- especially if they're Catholic and it seems like an appropriate moment -- "What prayers do you say?" 
The answer might be, "Well, you know, I just talk to God." 
That's nice, but how do you know you're talking to our God and not just complaining to an unknown, faceless, impassive deity? 

When Catholics pray we pray to the Father of Jesus with Mary, and all the saints and martyrs. We also pray with our fellow Catholics who attend the same parish and share the same concerns. We never pray alone, even when we're alone while doing housework or commuting. Our prayers may be just talking to God, but they should also include the familiar prayers of our Church, beginning with the Lord's Prayer. The Trinitarian prayer (a doxology) -- "Glory Be to the Father...." -- appeared in the earliest centuries of our history.Somewhere in the middle ages we developed the Hail Mary and the Rosary.  

When we recite these familiar prayers, we're praying with ancient ancestors and future descendants of every age and nation. We take our place in a cloud of witnesses. 

Today we can laugh at the fool Jonah who expected God to punish the Ninevites despite God's clear preference for mercy. If he was talking to God he wasn't listening to the Spirit that sent him on mission, delivered him from the belly of Leviathan, and marked his preaching with enormous success. He was just grumbling. He dared to suppose his muttering should move the Lord God of Heaven and Earth. 

Prayer as Jesus taught us is not grumbling, mumbling, or murmuring. It is intentional, attentive, courageous, and generous. And the Lord listens to his beloved.