The Persistence of Ralphie: Homily for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C
Being a parent or grandparent can be really strange.
And one of the strangest things about it
is when the kids start to imitate you.
At first its kind of funny and cute,
the way you make faces at them
and they try to make faces back.
They dress up as mommy or daddy,
pretending to do grown up things.
But it’s not so funny when they start imitating your bad habits
or repeating certain words.
As they get older they begin to admire other people
and try to imitate them.
And it continues even into adulthood.
We read biographies from business and political leaders
trying to discover the habits and practices that make them so successful,
and we try to imitate them.
Well that’s what’s happening in today’s gospel reading.
Jesus has gathered around him a group of disciples.
We recall that the word disciple means “learner.”
These are all learners.
These people who are following Jesus
are trying to learn what he has to teach,
trying to learn how to live life the way he does.
They must have been watching him all the time,
the way a child watches a parent:
watching him heal people,
watching him speak to the crowds,
watching him spending time with outcasts,
and, today, watching him pray.
And of all the things they see Jesus do,
the one thing they ask about is prayer.
We don’t hear the disciples say,
“Lord, teach us to heal,”
or “Lord, teach us to speak to the crowds.”
Now, maybe they did ask Jesus those things,
but Luke only records this one key request:
“Lord, teach us to pray.”
Jesus was praying in a certain place,
and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him,
“Lord, teach us to pray…”
Luke records more instances of Jesus praying
than any other gospel writer.
Jesus prays before his baptism,
he prays before the Transfiguration,
he prays after the seventy disciples return from their mission;
Jesus prays all the time.
And the disciples see this.
They notice that prayer is an essential part of Jesus’ life,
and that if they want to follow Jesus,
if they want to be like Jesus,
if they want to imitate Jesus,
then they must pray.
Prayer is essential
to being a disciple of Christ.
It’s non-negotiable.
To be a Christian means to be one who prays,
because that’s what Jesus did.
The first disciples recognize this,
and so do we.
We understand that prayer is non-negotiable
in living the Christian life.
And so in today’s gospel,
the disciples see Jesus at prayer
and they ask him to teach them to pray.
Because prayer isn’t something you can learn by observing.
You can watch the way a person looks at prayer,
the way they hold their hands,
or the way they stand, sit or kneel,
but you can’t really know what’s going on inside a person’s mind or soul
when they’re at prayer.
That’s why they ask Jesus.
They know how to pray as Jews,
they know how John the Baptist taught his disciples,
but they want to know from Jesus.
So Jesus tells the parable of the man who needs three loaves,
and ends by saying,
“I tell you, if he does not get up to give the visitor the loaves
because of their friendship,
he will get up to give him whatever he needs
because of his persistence.”
Jesus is clear that we have to persistent with our prayer,
and keep asking until our prayer is answered.
It’s a little like Ralphie in the movie A Christmas Story.
All Ralphie wants for Christmas is an “official Red Ryder,
carbine action, 200-shot, range model air rifle,
with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time.”
In other words, he wants a BB gun.
He tells his mom, and she says, “You’ll shoot your eye out.”
He writes an essay about it at school, and his teacher says,
“You’ll shoot your eye out.”
But little Ralphie is persistent.
He leaves the BB gun catalog for his parents to see,
he even tells Santa, who responds,
“You’ll shoot your eye out.”
Even though the answer seems to be no,
he keeps up his persistence.
If you’ve seen the movie you know whether or not his prayer is answered.
If you haven’t seen the movie enjoy a little Christmas in July
and watch it when you get the chance.
Ralphie’s child-like persistence
is what we need to have in prayer.
If something is important enough to pray for once,
it’s important enough to pray for again and again.
Through our perseverance,
the need for which we are praying takes root in our heart
and has the ability to transform us.
By praying for the same need every day
maybe we’ll discover the prayer behind the prayer.
So many times the needs we ask for are surface needs
that conceal a deeper desire.
Persevering in prayer may open our hearts up
and reveal what it is we really need.
Or maybe over time we’ll discover
that the need really isn’t as important as we thought,
or that we can let it go.
When we persevere in prayer
the desires of our hearts are transformed
and conformed to God’s will.
To get a little more practical,
one simple way to help us persevere in prayer
is to write our prayers down on paper and read them each day.
Writing prayers down gives them concrete form
and helps us articulate our real needs.
It might even be helpful to get a little notebook like this,
something small enough to fit in a pocket or purse during the day
but durable enough to last a while.
I used this particular one for about six years
before switching to a password-protected note on my phone.
Whether you write them on paper or keep them electronically,
I found it helpful to divide the prayer list into three sections:
First, are the perpetual prayers.
These are needs to be prayed for all the time, without end.
For instance, here is where you would list each member of your family.
This is also the place to list our Bishop and the Pope,
your fellow parishioners here at St. Peter,
your high school or college classmates,
or any other needs that you wish to pray for for the rest of your life.
The second section is for all those family and friends
who have died.
We know that praying for the dead is a spiritual work of mercy,
and listing the names of our deceased loved ones
helps us to persevere in praying for them.
Finally,
the third section could be for those immediate needs we have,
or those that people have asked you to pray for.
When you meet someone who tells you they need prayers,
or when you get a phone call, a text, an email,
or maybe when you happen across something in the newspaper
or on the news,
this is where you could write it down.
When you know someone looking for a job,
or when someone is in a difficult relationship,
or if a friend or family member is struggling with an illness,
writing their need down will help you remember to pray for it each day.
A small notebook like this or a note on a smartphone
can help us persevere in praying for the specific needs we have.
You can even record the date when your prayer was answered.
As the years go by, this notebook becomes like a little spiritual journal.
A larger notebook or journal could even be used in a home
to create a family book of intentions, similar to our parish book.
In fact, a family could take the parish bulletin home
and each week cut out the section titled “Remember to pray for,”
and slip it inside the notebook.
It could have those same three sections:
perpetual prayers, prayers for those who have died, and immediate needs.
The family book of intentions could be brought out at dinner time
or just before bedtime, or even first thing in the morning over breakfast.
Family members could take turns reading the different needs
and placing them before God.
If our children are going to imitate us,
then what better habit for them to imitate
than praying daily for the needs of others?
Prayer is only one dimension of being a disciple of Christ,
but it’s an essential dimension.
As disciples of Christ,
Jesus calls us to take up our crosses daily,
to gather in worship with a community of faith,
to care for the poor and vulnerable,
and to pray.
If something is important enough to pray for once,
it’s important enough to pray for again and again.
May God give us the faith and strength
to persevere in prayer.
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