2nd homily
Do you know how the pretzel came into being? Many years ago, there was a pious monk who was pastor of a Church in Italy. At one point in his ministry, the parish children seemed rather slow at learning their prayers. Consequently, he rewarded those who showed improvement by giving them a "pretiola," which means "little gift." The little gift was a biscuit shaped like a pair of hands clasped in prayer. Travelers would often take the pretiola over the Alps into Germany. The Germans glazed and salted them and they became a popular German snack. Eventually, pretzels were introduced and remain popular in many other parts of the world.
Now, the next time you see or eat a pretzel, it might well be a timely, welcome reminder to pray to God.
We talk a lot about prayer -- about the importance of prayer, the efficacy of prayer, the necessity of prayer, the different kinds of prayer. And many of us do a lot of praying -- morning and evening, and sometimes in between. Once a week, we come to Church to pray some more, together. Our trust and hope in prayer as the ultimate problem-solver is deep-rooted and profound. Yet, it is true, that for many of us, prayer itself is one of our problems. Sometimes we become perplexed about prayer, and we find ourselves praying for guidance on how to pray.
One reason we become confused about prayer is that we have been taught to expect so much from our prayers. Jesus himself says in the Eleventh Chapter of Luke, Verse Nine, "Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you." And when we ask and God doesn't seem to be answering, we begin to wonder and to doubt. Today's Gospel Lesson tells us where to begin our approach to this problem.
In today's Gospel, Luke tells us that Jesus "was in a certain place praying, and when He had finished, one of the disciples said, "Lord, teach us to pray" (Lk. 11:1). Jesus answered, "Say this when you pray: "Father, hallowed be Your Name" and then He continued to recite the remaining four petitions in Luke's version of what we now call "The Lord's Prayer" (Lk. 11:2-4).
Now, what the Biblical writers want us to realize is that on the first petition depend all the others. You can just forget everything that follows if you have missed the point of the first petition: "Hallowed be Your Name...may Your Name be held holy."
When we pray this first petition, we are not praying for God to become hallowed; God is and always was, and always will be the "Holy One" whose name is "hallowed." Rather, we are praying that God may be acknowledged by us and by all people everywhere as the Holy One: The God of Love. We are praying that all people everywhere will revere God as God: the Almighty Creator of all that is; the very Source of all of life. And when we refuse to hallow our Gracious, Loving God in every area of life, we cut ourselves off from the one and only Source of the fulfillment we seek.
Just before Leonard Bernstein's birthday, the late, great composer, conductor and musician was asked by the New York Times to write an article. He responded with a poem:
When I die, I pray there may be heard an all-embracing, brave four-letter word.
I blush to name it, so often do we abuse it,
But the letters speak; and by-and-by we may no longer hesitate to use it.
The four letters he then used were L-O-V-E. Then he closed by calling on people everywhere "to take the four-letter word and make it live, by learning to give, to give, to give!"
When we are anxious, when we grieve, time seems to drag cruelly. When we are joyful, content, delighted, time seems to whiz by. And we shall never be able to come to grips with time until we have learned to love.
Time is too slow for those who wait. Time is too fast for those who fear. Time is too long for those who mourn. Time is too short for those who rejoice. But for those who love, Time is eternity.1
To hallow God's Holy Name, to praise the Lord, is to love all His children -- all of them -- and suffer with them, and rejoice with them and never count the cost.
Will I surrender to the downs and despairs, or will I place my trust in the New Testament revelation of a loving God who is for me -- no matter what?
True story:
A young woman named Mary dreamed as a young girl of becoming an obstetrician. She completed her studies and graduated from a medical college in her native country of India. With several other celebrating young graduates she jumped into a station wagon to go on a picnic. Then an accident happened: the driver lost control and the vehicle rolled over three times. Three days later, Mary regained consciousness. She knew that she was paralyzed from the waist down.
She wept as she saw her dreams evaporate forever. "Oh God, I'll never feel warm, squirming babies in my hands." Then, like a miracle of God's Mercy, she heard the first petition of the Lord's Prayer resonating deep within her. And she whispered the words of praise: "Our Father who are in Heaven, hallowed be Your Name." It was a remarkable statement of complete trust in God's Love -- no matter what!
Into her room came one of India's leading surgeons, who said, "Mary I think you could be my assistant in surgery. We could build a ramp and you could operate from your chair." That was many years ago. Today, Mary is one of the most skillful, expert surgeons in transplanting tendons in deformed lepers' hands. Her two hands have become the ten fingers of God!
Thousands of people are happier because of her. As she says it, "I asked God for legs and God gave me wings."2
Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Your Name!
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