Sunday Gospel Reflections
July 27, 2025, Cycle C
Luke
11:1-13
Recognizing Our Need
by Fr. Steven G. Oetjen
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Immediately after Luke’s
Gospel records
Jesus’ visit to the home of Martha and Mary (Lk 10:38–42), which
we heard last
Sunday, it next relates how Jesus “was praying in a certain
place.” Jesus
doesn’t simply tell us that prayer and the contemplative life
are “the better
part.” He shows us by his own example. He has much to do —
preaching, teaching,
healing, accomplishing our redemption — but he doesn’t do any of
these things
without prayer.
In fact, the disciples
see him at
prayer, and they naturally want what he has. They see something
of the
relationship that he has with the Father, and they want to have
it too. So, one
of them speaks up: “Lord, teach us to pray.”
He first gives them the
words to say.
They are told to address God as “Father” and given a list of
five petitions.
Jesus is showing us what we ought to pray for, and thus what we
ought to
desire. We have all sorts of desires, hopes and ambitions, and
these are not
necessarily bad. But above all, do you desire that God’s name be
revered? Do
you want his kingdom to come? When we pray as the Lord has
taught us, our
desires are reshaped around God’s priorities, not our own. All
throughout the
Gospels, Jesus teaches us a new life. And in this prayer, he
teaches us how to
desire that life and to ask for the grace to live it. Hence,
Tertullian called
this prayer “the summary of the whole Gospel.”
Next, Jesus tells a
parable. Suppose
you go to your friend at midnight and ask him for three loaves
of bread. If
even your tired, annoyed friend will eventually give you what
you need because
of your persistence, how much more will God, our loving Father,
give to his
beloved children?
One reason we might not
want to
approach God in prayer is our fear or our shame. We might
consider ourselves
unworthy to bring our needs before God. To put this fear to
rest, Jesus says,
“Ask … seek … knock … ” There is no way we can hear these words
and think that
God does not want us to approach him. He loves for his children
to come to him
and ask for their needs, to ask each day for their daily bread.
Another reason we might
not want to
pray is the opposite: our pride. To ask God for our needs means
first admitting
that we are in need and that we are not self-sufficient. Prayer
requires
humility. It means recognizing that we are lowly and cannot
provide everything
for ourselves. It means recognizing that we are children who are
dependent on
our loving Father. It means being willing to receive from our
Father rather
than trying to grasp at things for ourselves, as Adam and Eve
tried to grasp at
their own happiness by taking from the tree.
When we pray as Jesus
taught us to
pray, we avoid these two extremes. We have a humble confidence:
a confidence in
approaching God because he is our Father, and a humility in
recognizing our
need and asking God to provide. The word of Jesus, meanwhile,
shapes our
desires to conform to God’s desires so that we know better what
to ask for.
Ultimately, it is not
only about “what”
we ask for, but about “whom.” Today’s Gospel ends, “If you then,
who are
wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much
more will the
Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” The
Father wants
to give us the Holy Spirit, who leads us through his seven gifts
and who
enriches our lives with his fruits and with the virtues.