17 Sunday C Teach us to pray

Teach us to pray

            Have you ever been jealous of someone else’s ability to pray? I’ve been a few times, when I have witnessed holy people praying. The same happened to Jesus’ disciples. They have seen him praying early in the morning, spending the whole night in prayer, immersing himself in his relationship with his Father God. They found it very difficult to imitate him. They couldn’t wake up in the morning, they fell asleep during the night, or they got distracted looking at rich people putting money into the treasury of the temple. They really wanted to learn how to pray properly; they were attracted to Jesus’ prayer life.

            One of Jesus’ disciples asked him to teach them how to pray, just as John taught his disciples. There was a bit of rivalry between Jesus and John’s disciples. They were the two most popular prophets at that time. The disciple took advantage of this fact to make this important request. He went to the source of prayer, to the best teacher, to the professor’s chair. We too ask Jesus to teach us how to talk with him, how to relate to him, how to connect with him. It is a petition made directly to him. All the saints learned from him. We go to him with the same holy envy of this disciple.

            It is a deeper petition than we think. If we learn how to pray, how to access Jesus’ heart, we will be very powerful in love. It is what people in love want to achieve with the person they love: how to get through, how to reach the other’s heart, how to unlock the mysteries of their love. We forget that human love is a reflection of divine love. We too want to get closer to Jesus and we don’t know how to do it.

            We need to acknowledge that we don’t know how to pray. We are still at the beginning of our prayer life. We are like little children who are learning how to talk; only their mothers understand them. We just babble. We don’t really understand what we are doing ourselves. Prayer needs time and practice, like everything else that is worthwhile. Like learning to play the piano or a new language. A lot of time, the more the merrier. We need to waste time with Jesus, to spend time with him, to wait for him to teach us.

            What was Jesus’ lesson? The Our Father. It is the prayer of the children of God. Jesus taught us to pray like children. What are the main characteristics of children’s prayer: they ask with faith and perseverance. Once I asked a boy who was leaving the chapel: What did you tell Jesus? He answered me: I asked for something. This is the language of children: asking for things. They are little, they have nothing and they need everything. The same applies to us in front of God. He has all the riches we need. And all we need to do is to ask. He has told us so: “Ask and it will be given to you.” Children ask with confidence, knowing that their parents can give them what they want. God can give us what we need and he knows what we need. This trust leads to perseverance. They say that the average petition of a child to achieve what he wants is by asking four times. We need to be persistent with our petitions. Sometimes God waits to make sure that we want and need what we ask for. The more we ask the more we desire it. The delay increases our desires. The best way to achieve what we want is through Mary. She knows how to ask her son.

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