July 25, 2010: 17th Sunday Ordinary (C)

(No Audio Homily This Sunday)


At this newly assigned parish, everyday is an adventure for this priest. I arrived at a nursing home to celebrate mass, and upon arriving at the multi-purpose room where the mass was to be celebrated for the residents, I was forewarned that there was a little accident that I needed to walk around. Before even someone told me about the accident, I could smell it. And off to the right side of my eyes, I could see that there was a spillage of some kind. I was told that a resident got sick just a minute ago. Otherwise, there were around 25 residents gathered around a beautifully appointed altar with candles and altar cloths. As I celebrated mass, I began to hear someone humming a song immediately followed by someone else shushing the person. Throughout the whole mass this went back and forth--between the humming person and a shushing person. Yet the humming stopped when we got to the Lord's Prayer. "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name..." All the residents, even the ones dozing off and even the one humming, as if by a synchronized clock, all reached out for each other's hands and prayed reverently "Our Father..." I chuckled inside, marveling at the power of the Lord's Prayer over dementia and drowsiness.


That brought back a memory of bringing communion to an elderly lady at another nursing home. This particular lady suffered from multiple physical ailments, not just aging. She was non-responsive to most of my chit-chats. But the moment I began, "Our Father," she loudly chimed in all the way up to, "on earth as it is in heaven." Then she goes back to repeat "Our Father" all over again. There was something very powerful about the words of "Our Father." It awakens us from our slumber, physical and spiritual. It is as if "Our Father" is not just mere words, but innate vocabulary built into us, like "mama" and "dada." After Sunday mass, I have some parents of young children who come up to tell me how their little 4 year olds are fascinated with the prayer 'Our Father.' One day when I was praying inside the church, I saw a 4-year old leading his mother by hand to different statues (you would think that it's the other way around) and stood mesmerized by the statues of the saints. His mother tells me that he does not leave out stopping at the large crucifix and the statue of the Blessed Mother. And I still vividly recall on Good Friday, a 40-ish man with Down Syndrome approach the large cross to lay his cheeks on the Relic of the True Cross with a big smile. I remember his genuine love for the Lord who died on that Cross moved all the parishioners witnessing this affectionate gesture, to tears. I wonder what this child-like man saw that most of us didn't recognize.

In the gospel today when Our Lord wanted to teach us how to pray, he taught us the words to "Our Father." As often I hear people confessing in the confessional using Jesus' name and God's name in vain, I have yet to hear people confess for saying "Our Father" in vain. One occasion where "Father" was used inappropriately was when I was still in college, at a college prayer group, a young woman all of the sudden in the middle of the silent prayer yelled out, "I hate you Father!" I learned later that she was a recent convert who led a rather shameful life. She lapsed into that life recently, and during that prayer meeting, her soul, torn between the sinful life that beckoned her and the new relationship that Heavenly Father was calling her to, she yelled out her defiant 'no' to the Father. It was the first time that I realized what defiant yell that Lucifer must have made to his Creator saying, "I hate you Father! I will not serve! My will be done!" Many of us recognize traces of Lucifer's defiance in us. How many of us have said, in one fashion or another, "My kingdom come. My will be done. On my earth as it is in my heaven."


The simple, yet profound prayer of "Our Father" daily molds us to say "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. On earth as it is in heaven." Our Responsorial Psalm beautifully shows us this right attitude we should have daily in our heart:

"I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart,
for you have heard the words of my mouth;
in the presence of the angels I will sing your praise;
I will worship at your holy temple
and give thanks to your name.
Because of your kindness and your truth;
for you have made great above all things
your name and your promise.
When I called you answered me;
you built up strength within me."