You’ve got that wrong.

Homily for 29^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

16^th October 2022

 

One of my anxieties over the last few weeks was whether I would be able to complete a course I was doing. No, matter how hard I tried I could not seem to get into place two volunteers for a case study I had to carry out. This led to stress, headaches, and frustration. I completed all the tasks necessary up to that point but no matter what I did nothing fell into place. I was being persistent but one thing after another simply failed, and I was getting exhausted. What was going wrong?

My wife asked me, “Who’s will is it?” I had to think about this one: “Who’s will?” Then it dawned on me. This was my will, not God’s will. I was putting my trust in my efforts, and in what I could do to make things happen. Very scientific, but not the way God works. I was not following his will. It was time for me to give up.

You may be thinking here: “Hang on, George. You’ve got that wrong. Didn’t the Gospel show that the widow’s persistence broke down the corrupt judge? He got to the point where he gave up because he did not want to be bothered by the old woman's nagging. The judge had been stubborn in doing what he wanted not fearing God and not respecting man. He did not respect the widow. But he gave in.

Moses could only keep up his arms for so long. Every time he slumped the Amalekites had the advantage. Aaron and Hur had to sit Moses down and prop up his arms so they could hold up the staff. This allowed the Israelites to beat the Amalekites. Moses using his own strength could not achieve this. He needed others to support him. Moses’ will on its own could not achieve what he wanted.

Many commentaries about these readings tell us that if we are persistent in our prayers, we will achieve our goals. Yet, that sounds like a scientific experiment. If you look at science, you will find definitions such as: “Science is the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment.” Phew, that’s a mouthful.

Another definition says, “Science is defined as the observation, identification, description, experimental, investigation, and theoretical explanation of natural phenomena”. It sounds like you need a PhD to decipher that sentence and could probably spend quite a few years doing so.

But let’s stop with all the big words for a moment. Nowhere in either of those two definitions was there the mention of God. God the Trinity is not there.

It seems that in an America University, they put together an experiment to test if prayer worked. They took two groups of people, one prayed for and the other, a control group, had no prayers. The result - there was no difference between each group. What was missing?

God was not asked what he wanted. Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. He asked God if it was possible, to let this cup pass me by. He knew what was about to happen. He knew he would be scourged at the pillar, crowned with thorns, mocked, forced to carry the cross, and crucified until he died. The thought alone brought beads of sweat to his brow like blood. This was how anxious he was. Yet, as he continued to pray, he said: “Nevertheless, let it be as you, not I, would have it.”

In the Gospels of Luke and Matthew, we are taught to say:

Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

We are told that it is God’s will that should be done on earth because that is the way it is done in Heaven. Timothy tells us by dedicating ourselves to God through what we have been taught through Holy Scriptures since we were children we will be equipped and ready to do the good works God wishes us to do.

I said earlier, that it was time for me to give up. What I was being asked to do, was give up my will, and let God’s will be done. I had to trust his will. Once I did this my prayers were answered. On the last day, two people presented themselves to me to be my volunteers for my Case Study. Jesus gave his will to God the Father. He went through death on the Cross and God’s will was that three days later Christ Jesus was Resurrected and Saved the World. Amen.

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