Why do we need to pray always?

Readings for Sunday, October 20

Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time 

Id-29 Ħadd matul is-Sena

Messalin C pp 421

Reading 1                                             EXodus 17:8-13

In those days, Amalek came and waged war against Israel. Moses, therefore, said to Joshua, "Pick out certain men, and tomorrow go out and engage Amalek in battle. I will be standing on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand."  So Joshua did as Moses told him: he engaged Amalek in battle after Moses had climbed to the top of the hill with Aaron and Hur. As long as Moses kept his hands raised up, Israel had the better of the fight, but when he let his hands rest, Amalek had the better of the fight. Moses’ hands, however, grew tired; so they put a rock in place for him to sit on.  Meanwhile Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other, so that his hands remained steady till sunset. And Joshua mowed down Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.  This is the Word of The Lord.

L-Ewwel Lezzjoni - -Eżodu  17, 8-13

F'dak iż-żmien, il-poplu ta' Għamalek qam u tqabad ma' Iżrael f'Rafidim. Mose' qal lil Ġożwe':   "Agħżel irġiel u mur tqabad ma'  Għamalek;  jien noqgħod  wieqaf fuq il-quċċata tal-għolja,  bil-ħatar ta' Alla f'idi."    Ġożwe' għamel kif qallu Mose', u  mar jitqabad mal-Għamalekin.   Mose' Aron u Ħur telgħu fuq il-quċċata tal-għolja. Kull meta Mose' kien jerfa' jdejh, Iżrael kien jirbaħ; u kull meta kien iniżżel idejh, kienu jirbħu l-Għamalekin. Meta idejn Mose' bdew jitqalu ħadu ġebla u  qegħduhielu taħtu; u hu qagħad bilqiegħda, waqt li  Aron u Ħur żammewlu dirgħajh, wieħed kull naħa. Hekk idejh baqgħu sodi merfugħa sa nżul ix-xemx. U Ġożwe' qered lil Għamalek u l-poplu tiegħu b'xifer ix-xabla.   Il-Kelma tal-Mulej

Responsorial Psalm     PSalm 121:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8

  R. (cf. 2) Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

I lift up my eyes toward the mountains;
whence shall help come to me?
My help is from the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.                                           R/

May he not suffer your foot to slip;
may he slumber not who guards you:
indeed he neither slumbers nor sleeps,
the guardian of Israel.                                                         R/

The LORD is your guardian; the LORD is your shade;
he is beside you at your right hand.
The sun shall not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.                                                       R/

The LORD will guard you from all evil;
he will guard your life.
The LORD will guard your coming and your going,
both now and forever.                                                        R/

Salm Responsorjali                    -  Salm 120 (121)

                        R/                   L-għajnuna tiegħi mingħand il-Mulej

Nerfa' għajnejja lejn l-għoljiet;

mnejn se tiġini l-għajnuna?

L-għajnuna tiegħi mingħand il-Mulej,

li għamel is-sema u l-art.                                                    R/

Ma jħalli qatt li riġlek jogħtor;

ma jongħosx dak li jħarsek.

ara,  la jongħos u lanqas jorqod

dak li jħares lil Iżrael.                                                           R/

Il-Mulej hu dak li jħaresk;

il-Mulej hu d-dell tiegħek fuq lemintek.

Ma tolqtokx ix-xemx binhar,

anqas il-qamar billejl.                                                          R/

Iħaresek il-Mulej minn kull deni;

hu jħarislek ħajtek.

Il-Mulej iħarsek fil-ħruġ u d-dħul tiegħek,

minn issa u għal dejjem.                                                     R/

Reading 2                     -      2 TiMothy 3:14-4:2

Beloved:  Remain faithful to what you have learned and believed,  because you know from whom you learned it, and that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are capable of giving you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness,  so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work.  I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead,  and by his appearing and his kingly power: proclaim the word;  be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient;  convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching. This is the Word of The Lord.

It-Tieni Lezzjoni - Tieni Ittra lil Timotju 3, 16; 4,1-2

Għażiż, ibqa' miexi f'dak li tgħallimt  u emmint bis-sħiħ, għax taf mingħand min tagħallimtu, u għax sa minn żgħoritek sirt midħla tal-Kotba Mqaddsa,  li jistgħu jagħtuk l-għerf li jwassal għas-salvazzjoni  permezz  tal-fidi fi Kristu Ġesu'. L-Iskrittura kollha hija mnebbħa minn Alla, u tiswa biex wieħed jgħallem, iċafnar, iwiddeb u  jrawwem fis-sewwa, biex hekk il-bniedem ta' Alla  jkun perfett, imħejji għal kull ħidma tajba. Nitolbok bil-ħerqa, quddiem Alla u Kristu Ġesu', li għandu jagħmel ħaqq mill-ħajjin u mill-mejtin, f'isem id-Dehra tiegħu u s-Saltna tiegħu:  xandar il-kelma, insisti f'waqtu u barra minn waqtu, ċanfar, widdeb, wissi, bis-sabar kollu u bit-tagħlim.  Il-Kelma tal-Mulej

Gospel                             -         LuKe 18:1-8

Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming  weary.  He said, "There was a judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected any human being.  And a widow in that town used to come to him and say, 'Render a just decision for me against my adversary.'  For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought, 'While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being,  because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her lest she finally come and strike me.'"  The Lord said, "Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says.  Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night?  Will he be slow to answer them?  I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.  But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" This is the Word of The Lord.

 L-Evanġelju -  Luqa  18,1-8

F'dak iż-żmien, Ġesu' qal parabbola lid-dixxipli tiegħu biex jurihom li għandhom dejjem jitolb bla ma jaqtgħu.  Qalilhom:  "Kien hemm f'belt wieħed imħallef, li la kien jibża' minn Alla u lanqas iħabbel  rasu minn ħadd.F'dik il-belt kien hemm waħda armla, u kienet tmur għandu u tgħidlu:  "Agħmilli ħaqq kontra l-għadu tiegħi." Hu ma riedx, u dam ħafna hekk; iżda mbagħad  bejnu u bejn ruħu qal: "Mhux għax nibza' minn  Alla jew għax se nħabbel rasi min-nies imma għallinqas  għax din l-armla dejqitni; ħa nagħmlilha  ħaqq, biex ma tibqax tiġi u sejra sa ma tifnini." U l-Mulej qal:  "Isimgħu ftit x'jgħid l-imħallef ħażin. Imbagħad Alla, lill-magħżulin tiegħu li jgħajtulu  lejl u nhar, sejjer ma jagħmlilhomx ħaqq?   Se joqgħod  itawwal magħhom?  Jiena ngħidilkom li malajr  jagħmlilhom ħaqq.  Imma taħsbu intom li Bin  il-bniedem se jsib il-fidi fuq l-art meta jiġi?  Il-Kelma tal-Mulej

……………………

COMMENTARY

               

                    

Christ's Parable About the Need to Pray Always

A reflection by Father Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap, the Pontifical Household preacher.

Sunday’s Gospel begins thus: “Jesus told them a parable about the need to pray always and not to lose heart.” The parable is the one about the troublesome widow. In answer to the question “How often must we pray?” Jesus answers, “Always!”

Prayer, like love, does not put up with calculation. Does a mother ask how often she should love her child, or a friend how often he should love a friend? There can be different levels of deliberateness in regard to love, but there are no more or less regular intervals in loving. It is the same way with prayer. This ideal of constant prayer is realized in different forms in the East and West. Eastern Christianity practiced it with the “Jesus Prayer”: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!”

The West formulated the principle of constant prayer in a more flexible way so that it could also be proposed to those who do not lead a monastic life. St. Augustine teaches that the essence of prayer is desire. If the desire for God is constant, so also is prayer, but if there is no interior desire, then you can howl as much as you want -- to God you are mute.

Now, this secret desire for God, a work of memory, of need for the infinite, of nostalgia for God, can remain alive, even when one has other things to do: “Praying for a long time is not the same thing as kneeling or folding your hands for a long time. In consists rather in awakening a constant and devout impulse of the heart toward him whom we invoke.”

Jesus himself gave us the example of unceasing prayer. Of him, it is said that he prayed during the day, in the evening, early in the morning, and sometimes he passed the whole night in prayer. Prayer was the connecting thread of his whole life.   But Christ’s example tells us something else important. We are deceiving ourselves if we think that we can pray always, make prayer a kind of respiration of the soul in the midst of daily activity, if we do not set aside fixed times for prayer, when we are free from every other preoccupation. 

The same Jesus who we see praying always, is also the one who, like every other Jew of his period, stopped and turned toward the temple in Jerusalem three times a day, at dawn, in the afternoon during the temple sacrifices, and at sundown, and recited ritual prayers, among which was the “Shema Yisrael!” -- “Hear, O Israel!” On the Sabbath he also participated, with his disciples, in the worship at the synagogue; different scenes in the Gospels take place precisely in this context.

The Church -- we can say, from its first moment of life -- has also set aside a special day dedicated to worship and prayer: Sunday. We all know what, unfortunately, has happened to Sunday in our society: Sports, from being something for diversion and relaxation, have often become something that poisons Sunday ... We must do whatever we can so that this day can return to being, as God intended it in commanding festive repose, a day of serene joy that strengthens our communion with God and with each other, in the family and in society.  

We modern Christians should take our inspiration from the words that, in 305, St. Saturnius and his fellow martyrs addressed to the Roman judge who had them arrested for participating in the Sunday rite: “The Christian cannot live without the Sunday Eucharist. Do you not know that the Christian exists for the Eucharist and the Eucharist for the Christian?”

* * *

© Innovative Media Inc.