Dear friends in Christ,
Communication is something that barely any human person can do without. Whenever we pick up our phones, we expect to see a message from someone. Besides official messages, it is a fact that the closer people are to each other, the more often they communicate with one another. While communication involves transmission of information, communion goes further to include union of minds or spirits. Contents of communication (i.e messages) differ in relation to depth of relationships. There can be no relationship without communication or communion such that one can rightly say that a relationship is dead without communication, or how healthy a relationship is can be deduced from the modes, contents or intensity of communication among the partners. Partners in a relationship is here defined in the broader sense to include anyone with whom you are in transaction at the point in time. It could be your boss or colleague, parents or children, and of course your married partner or any other form of relationship, the highest being our relationship with God.
Communication takes many forms. It could be negotiating, arguing, urging, acknowledging, motivating, appreciating, etc. The manner of communicating is not only influenced by the circumstance and the relationship with the other, and vice versa, but can as well largely determines the direction any relationship goes.
In the first reading, we see Abraham negotiating with the Lord who was on his way to destroy the city of Sodom and Gomorrah. Relationship between Abraham and the Lord attained a new level with the good manner in which Abraham received him and the other co-visitors, prompting the Lordm to consider telling Abraham his intention to destroy the city of Sodom and Gomorrah. As the discussion developed, Abraham gained confidence because the partner in the discussion seemed open and tolerant to his requests. Abraham was not asking anything for himself, but knowing that his brother, Lot, was residing in Sodom at the time, he sought to spare the land and his brother’s family. Here we see intercessory prayer in action. The action of praying for others, but also to work for the benefit of other people always find favour in the sight of God. The bible is filled with accounts of great intercessors who pleaded on behalf of the people before God. Moses played this role when the anger of God broke out against his people in the wilderness. In Exodus 32: 11 and Deuteronomy 9: 13-14 Moses stood against God’s anger towards the rebellious Israelites in the wilderness and thereby averted their being destroyed. Ezekiel 22:20 echoes the need for intercession in the words attributed to God desiring that there was an intercessor to avert destruction of the people, “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one”.
In the Gospel Jesus taught his disciples how to pray. In the format of the prayer, The Lord’s prayer, we see the elements of good communication between a child an his loving father. The first part which concentrates on the interest of the father – acknowledgement of his fatherhood, adoration, wishing his will to be done – reflects the purpose of the incarnation of Jesus Christ. He came to reveal our heavenly father to us and teach us his will. Jesus himself opinioned that his food is to do the will of the father who sent him and to finish his work (John 4: 34).
Doing the will of the father is something that is often confusing. How do we know the will of God in any circumstance? The simple human question that naturally arise from this is, “how do we know the will of those around us – our boss, colleagues, friends, children, loved ones, partners, etc? Simple! We may not always know what they want or desire but the closer we are to them the easier it is to decode what they would likely want in a situation. It is a matter of how close a relationship is and the intensity of good and open communication existing in it. Jesus maintained close communion with the father by constantly going aside to pray. Major decisions like choosing his apostles (Lk. 6: 12-13) and facing his crucifixion (Matt. 26:36-42) were preceded by prayer with the father. Communication with the father was a vital aspect of the life and mission of Jesus. When we intensify our communication with God our loving father through prayer and reflection/meditation, our relationship with him will deepen, and his Spirit will reveal things to us (cf.1 Corinthians 2:10).
The second part deals with the interest of the one praying. Like Abraham in the first reading, we negotiate our interest with our heavenly father – seeking our sustenance, reconciliation with him and with others. Forgiveness is so important that it is premised on the condition that we too forgive others. Lack of forgiveness blocks any meaningful communication and severely harms relationships. There is nothing so destructive as unforgiveness. We need God’s forgiveness and those of the people we have offended to enable us enjoy peaceful and blessed life, and we equally need to intend this goodness to others by forgiving them for the harm they caused us. Offering or receiving forgiveness is like repairing a bridge that connects two communities, without which physical contact between those communities would be impossible.
In the Lord’s prayer, Jesus draws our attention to the pattern our prayers or communication with God should take. So often we begin with our interest (give us this day) rather than acknowledging the goodness of God and seeking for his will to be done in our lives. Similar things happen in human relationships. People who only come to take from us without ever appreciating our goodness or giving back in any way are often not in our good book. Even Abraham knew that good reception of his guests could open a way to better relationship.
Jesus went further to tell a story to encourage perseverance. Life is tough and only the tough keeps winning. Giving up in the face of adversity or shutting off when we feel we are not making a headway is often not the best decision. Giving one more trial could do the needed magic. Jesus urges us to pray without ceasing (Lk. 18:1). We need to have confidence in our heavenly father. A confidence that springs from the fact that, through baptism, we have been made God’s children by the death and resurrection of Jesus, an event that cancelled the consequences of our sins (cf. 2nd reading – Colossians 2:12-14).
Jesus assures us that God our loving father will give us what we asks with confidence if we persevere, and St. Paul’s statement in Rom. 8:32 strengthens this assurance: “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” It is with this confidence that we have to strengthen the bond of our relationship with God and intensify our communion/communication with him in the various forms of prayer (liturgy, worship, private prayers, meditation/reflection, etc.).
Fr. Marcel Uzoigwe, CSSp.