Reflection on the Gospel – Sunday, July 27, 2025

Ask, and it will be given to you.

Dear brothers and sisters, peace and all good.

Prayer has always been, is, and will continue to be a concern for believers. Because without prayer, we cannot be in contact with God or call ourselves His friends. Today’s readings speak to us about the importance of this aspect of our lives.

As an example of prayer, the first reading presents us with Abraham. Last week, he was presented as a model of faith and hospitality; this week, we see him as a guide for prayer. Faced with the threat hanging over the city of Sodom and concerned for the fate of his nephew, he begins to intercede for him and his family. This bargaining sounds much like how merchants haggle in the East—starting at fifty, then down to forty-five, then forty, and so on in tens…

In reality, we could say this bargaining carries a double message. On the one hand, it reminds us of God’s infinite generosity. He is always willing to look upon us with mercy. And that mercy is something we often experience during prayer. Without prayer, it’s very difficult to feel it.

On the other hand, we know that in the time of the patriarch Abraham, not even one righteous person could be found in Sodom and Gomorrah. Today, however, we know that the Righteous One has come—Christ—and because of Him, we can be sure of God’s forgiveness.

The Apostles saw that Righteous One, Jesus, praying so frequently and so intensely that they wanted to learn how to pray like Him. If the Lord had called them to be with Him and to live with Him, they wanted to imitate Him in everything—including His way of relating to the Father. They wanted to learn to pray differently, not like the other religious groups.

Christ draws on His lived experience to teach His disciples how to pray. He feels God as His Father. And He prays always—even when there’s no time to eat. Before every important decision, He withdraws to pray. At every moment, He seeks to do the will of His Abba. With this understanding, we receive the Lord’s Prayer. A humble, trusting, and sincere prayer—just like Jesus’ relationship with His Father.

Compared to the prayers they were used to, Jesus’ prayer likely seemed short. They had memorized long psalms and other prayers from Hebrew oral tradition. But the Master goes straight to the heart of things: the experience of God as Father, the cry for the Kingdom, forgiveness of all offenses, and our daily bread.

Short as it may be, it gives us powerful insights into what should be central in our lives. For instance, it reminds us that we are all family. We say Our Father, not My Father—because we are all God’s children. By calling Him Father, we acknowledge the bonds that unite us with one another and with all humanity. Like one great family. The disciples recognize the ties that bind them to each other and to all people. All of us are children of God. And from the joy of knowing we share one Father arises the commitment to proclaim the Kingdom of this God who is Father of all.

Everything Jesus did and said was aimed at doing the Father’s will. He wants His Kingdom to come among us—which means: that His Name may be sanctified by all; that we may form God’s great people; that we may live life abundantly, able to earn what we need each day to live with dignity (our daily bread); that we may grow in community life and solidarity (forgiveness); that we may overcome individualism and selfishness (temptations); and that we may be delivered from everything that oppresses us (evil).

Jesus tells us that Christian prayer is always heard, even though our experience might suggest otherwise. So that we do not stop praying, and so that we pray as God desires, Jesus gives us three images: asking, seeking, and knocking. If we persevere in prayer, it always bears fruit—though not always how or when we expect.

It’s true that outwardly things may remain the same—the illness may continue its course, the offense suffered may not be undone, the betrayal may still hurt—but something begins to change little by little within us if we persist in prayer. If we become more conformed to Christ, if our minds and hearts grow more like His, if our eyes begin to see the world and our brothers and sisters more “divinely,” then prayer has borne fruit—it has been heard.

And if through prayer we recover our inner peace and serenity, little by little even the moral and psychological wounds begin to heal. And sometimes, even physical illnesses heal more quickly. That is the power of prayer. That is our strength.

And for anyone who wants to go deeper into the prayer Jesus taught us, here are some good starting points. The Magisterium always sheds light for us.

Your brother in faith,