This Sermon is prepared by

Rev.Fr.Peter Jayakanthan sss
Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament
Corpus Christi Catholic Church,
Houston, Texas, US



ஞாயிறு மறையுரைகள்

மதிப்பிற்குரிய அருட்பணியாளர்களே, துறவிகளே, அருட் கன்னியரே, உங்கள் ஞாயிறு மறையுரைகளை எமது இணையத்தளத்தின் ஆன்மீக வலத்தில் பிரசுரித்து, ஆண்டவர் இயேசுவின் நற்செய்தியை எல்லோருக்கும் அறிவிக்க விரும்பினால், info@tamilcatholicnews.com என்ற எமது மின்னஞ்சலுக்கு உங்களுடைய ஆக்கங்களை அனுப்பிவைக்கவும். உங்கள் மறையுரைகள் உலகெங்கும் இருக்கும் அனைத்து தமிழ் உள்ளங்களையும் சென்றடையும்.



இதோ! ஓநாய்களிடையே ஆடுகளை அனுப்புவதைப்போல நான் உங்களை அனுப்புகிறேன். எனவே பாம்புகளைப்போல முன்மதி உடையவர்களாகவும் புறாக்களைப்போலக் கபடு அற்றவர்களாகவும் இருங்கள்.
(மத்தேயு 10:16)

நீங்கள் போய் எல்லா மக்களினத்தாரையும் சீடராக்குங்கள்; தந்தை, மகன், தூய ஆவியார் பெயரால் திருமுழுக்குக் கொடுங்கள். நான் உங்களுக்குக் கட்டளையிட்ட யாவையும் அவர்களும் கடைப்பிடிக்கும்படி கற்பியுங்கள். இதோ! உலக முடிவுவரை எந்நாளும் நான் உங்களுடன் இருக்கிறேன்
(மத்தேயு 28:19-20)

நீ அவற்றை உன் பிள்ளைகளின் உள்ளத்தில் பதியுமாறு சொல். உன் வீட்டில் இருக்கும்போதும், உன் வழிப்பயணத்தின் போதும், நீ படுக்கும்போது, எழும்போதும் அவற்றைப் பற்றிப் பேசு.
(இணைச்சட்டம் 6:7)








29th Sunday of Ordinary Year

Prayer…A Non-stop Breath….!

Ex17:8-13 IITm3:14--4:2 Lk 18:1-18

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ Jesus, I invite you as children and people of God to this Eucharistic Celebration. We come as a community and as families of faith. Our coming together is a witness to those around us. We proclaim from our lifestyle, our faith and our bond as members of one holy Catholic Church. We say various prayers in this Sunday Liturgy, mostly expressing needs. We are called to examine our attitudes while making these prayers of petition. Is it routine or just from our lips? Or temporary, emotion-charged, demanding requests? We shall form a necessary attitude surrendering to His time and our prayers shall be our breath.

When do we pray? The answers to this question:
I pray before a doctor appointment and before routine medical test.
I pray before surgery. I pray when others ask me to pray for them or their needs.
I pray when I go through hard times and feel lonely.
I pray when going through a divorce and for the strength to accept the loss of a love one.
I pray while I fly out of the country for long hours.
All these instances show that we pray in our moments of struggle, suffering and pain. It may be personal, physical, psychological or spiritual. There is nothing wrong with making a prayer of petition, crying out to God. All our liturgies includes prayers of supplication, including Sunday Eucharist. There is another question we have: how long should I pray? Does God know my need now? Why he is delaying?

There is a scene in the hit movie Gravity, where the protagonist – a young, female PhD taken out of the comfort and safety of her science lab and sent into space to help make upgrades to the Hubble Space Telescope – is running out of oxygen, and is stuck inside of an escape module that has run out of gas. She thinks she is going to die and has all but given up trying to contact mission control.

As she is flipping through radio frequencies she hears the voice of a Chinese man on the other end of the line and his filled with hope, only to realize that it is a radio station she is picking up from Earth. In what seem to be her last moments of life, she begins a conversation with this man, who obviously cannot hear her. She asks him to say a prayer for her and admits that she would pray herself, but unfortunately, she doesn’t know how. “No one ever taught me,” she says. Dr. Stone expresses her sadness and fear in the looming face of death. “No one will mourn for me. No one will pray for my soul. Will you mourn for me? Will you pray for me? I mean I'd pray for myself, but I've never prayed—nobody ever taught me how.” She pleads with her deceased baby girl, “Will you pray for me?” This cry of help shows the utter helplessness and hopelessness of her situation. She is let down by her discovery, knowledge, companions - by everything. She fully surrenders to all her feelings.

The situation in today’s first reading can be placed between The Red Sea and Mount Sinai. It was after crossing The Red Sea, having been delivered from Egypt, and the people are filled and fed with manna and quail. They were attacked by the Amalekites. The Amalekites controlled the route between Arabia and Egypt. They were the ancient, equipped fighters attacking the nomadic, unskilled, empty-handed Israel. Moses sent Joshua with the chosen group to fight unceasingly until the point of victory, while he took Aaron and Hur to the top of a hill. He knelt down, stretched out his hands in prayer. Aaron and Hur held Moses’ hands when he began lowering them, after praying for long hours. His unending, nonstop and unceasing supplication brought victory. It gave strength to Joshua and his team to continue fighting courageously. The praying position of Moses is called an “Orans” – Orante. Covenantal Priests followed this. Jesus’ prayer and surrender at Gethsemane and on the cross is the same one. In fatigue, helpless and exhausted from the situation, from the rising of the sun to its setting, Moses breathed life into prayer.

In the gospel Luke is giving an answer to the question of the people who were losing hope due to the delayed Parousia (the second coming of Jesus) and persecution at the hands of Romans and Jews. How long can we hold on to our faith? Are you letting us down Lord? The life of widow tells us to hold onto faith in difficult moments. Widow in Hebrew “almanah” means unable to speak, silent one and voiceless person. In Greek “chera” signifies forsaken, left empty and dead. After the death of their husbands, widows were doomed to a dead life. They lived by the charity of others. Her voiceless, helpless and hopeless situation did not take away the widow’s faith, so she pleads with total surrender. Her breathing life into prayer creates energy and new life.

How are we to sustain faith in hard times? Let our prayer continue like the non-stop breath of life: it will bring energy, courage and new birth. Moses’ gesture at prayer and widow’s persistence are signs of total surrender to His will and His time. They also bring new life and new faith into family of faith. Jesus’ surrender on the cross brought new life to Humanity. Prayer can be an unending breath of life in our life too!

Monica, the great saint, unceasingly and untiringly prayed for 17 years for the conversion of her son, Augustine. People in her community and family may have laughed at her and discouraged her. History tells us even priests did not want to face her because of her continuous plead for prayers. Her husband, Patricius, was neither a faithful husband nor a religious man. He was a pagan opposed Christian practices. He used to come home drunk and troubled her with violent words. Monica prayed for her husband, facing all trails unceasingly. Her prayers were answered. Her husband received Baptism and became a Catholic a year before his death. Augustine was 17 when his father died. It is clear these 17 years of untiring, unceasing and undoubting prayer must have motivated her to pray for 17 years for Augustine. Whenever she approached the Bishop with tears, he told her, “God’s time will come. Go now; it is not possible that the son of so many tears should perish.” She must have said constantly, day and night, here I am, let your time and plan happen.

In Priests for the Third Millennium, Monsignor Timothy Dolan observes that prayer must become like eating and breathing. We have to eat daily, not stock up on food on Monday, and then take off the rest of the week. Do we take ten deep breaths and say, “Good, that’s over for a while, I won’t have to breathe for a couple of hours.”

Luke tells us that Jesus sometimes prayed all night (6:12) - Amen.