[media presentation below] GospelThink Saturday, November 18 LUKE 18:1-8 In the prayer of petition, you must be persistent—that is what your faith calls you to do.  Prayerthoughts a. The ideal of prayer is to “pray always without becoming weary.” Am I striving after a prayer life that is both consistent and persistent? b. Jesus’ story concerns a judge who is bad and a widow who is persistent. What can I do about evil in the court system? Should I at least pray for these civil servants? c. The Lord obviously wants me to pray about a situation, asking the same thing over and over. In my prayer, do I follow that pattern, or conclude that God is not listening? d. Every prayer that I say to the Lord will be answered. Do I pray with that thought in mind? A prayer of thanksgiving to God would be in order here. e. Jesus asks the most important question at the end of his story. Persistence in prayer is a matter of faith that God will answer. In general, is my life clearly one of faith? f. My prayerthoughts… Today, I will read Wisdom, chapter 18, and write an important thought from it. Some Thoughts on the Liturgy   SOME THOUGHTS ON THE PRAYER OF PETITION  + In the Gospel story that Jesus tells, he is saying that the persistent petitioning of the poor woman pays off          – giving rise to some familiar beliefs that we have:                   – God answers the prayers of the just                   – God answers the prayers of the poor                            – God gives what we want, as long as we are persistent  + But immediately, we have unanswerable questions, the familiar unanswerable questions of people who expect their prayers to be answered          – good people get hurt even when they do pray in a persistent manner: hurricane, earthquake, war          – God does not answer some prayers: we pray for the homeless and they remain homeless, and we pray for the people who are persecuted, and they are still persecuted, we pray for peace, and there is no peace          – two people in exactly the same circumstance, same prayers are said, one is answered, the other is not                   – leads to the question: is God answering one and not the other?                            – or in general, does God answer our prayers?  + These are important questions for the believer          – because there are legitimate questions concerning this prayer of petition                   – the liturgy today suggests some answers          1 – we have to consider the thought of how God answers prayers                   – first of all, we honestly do not know—we do not understand God or how God works—we only know that God only works for the good, but we don’t understand how                            – nowhere in the Scriptures does the Lord ever say that we will get exactly what we want                                     – unfortunately many Scripture texts seem to say that                                              – it seems as though the people always get what they want in Scripture texts                                                       – as with Jesus’ miracles, Hebrew Scripture stories                                                                – actually, as we study those stories, the concentration is not on the healing or what people want – the concentration is on their faith                   – Jesus says that in the Gospel today—have faith in the fact that “justice is done” for his chosen: in fact, it will be done “speedily”                            – that is, God will give what will help the situation                                     – not necessarily what we think will help the situation                   – the prayer of petition is made with the faith that God will give us what is needed and it will be just for us                            – that is, it will be good for us                   – Jesus knows that that may be a problem, and so he asks his rhetorical question that speaks to how we work with the prayer of petition:          Will [the Son of Man] find faith on earth?          2 – a second thought about the prayer of petition, might follow from the first reading from the book of Wisdom of the Hebrew Scriptures                   – namely, that of complete trust in the Lord                            – just as certain as the Lord delivered the people of the Exodus, so will the Lord listen to our requests  + The lesson of the prayer of petition coming from our liturgy today is that          – if we are going to ask God for things                   – and that should never be taken lightly: we are asking God for help                            – we should pray in such a way that we are prepared to let God answer                                              – even if we don’t understand the answers when they come                   – and we should trust completely in what God can do. MEDIA PRESENTATION Song: “Love Me Harder” — Ariana Grande featuring The Weeknd TRY, TRY, TRY AGAIN The Gospel MARK 10:17-22 As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus answered him, … “You know the commandments: ‘You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother.’” He replied and said to him, “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.” Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, “You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

Gospelthink: I know that the thing to make you closer to God is not to allow material things dominate your life. Have I allowed that to happen?

“Tell me something I need to know ’cause if you want to keep me, you gotta love me harder, and if you really need me, you gotta love me harder. So what would I do if I can’t figure it out? You got to try, try, try again. So what would I do if I can’t figure it out? I’m gonna leave again.”

The man described in Mark’s Gospel had tried all his life to live a good life. He knew that it meant that one must keep the commandments of Moses. So, when Jesus counseled him to keep those commandments, in all honesty he could say that he had accomplished it even at a young age. But Jesus, knowing that a good spiritual life meant that he had to do more, told him in effect that he had to try even harder, giving him a formula for living which proved that he really wanted eternal life. Such a thought is basic for the spiritual life, but it is also the foundation of good living, and in particular for a person who desires the romantic love of another. In Ariana Grande and The Weeknd’s song “Love Me Harder,” the premise is that there had been love in the past. But in order to keep it, both had to show a little more effort, or else it would be over. Perhaps one of the most important words in our description of maturity is the word “try.” To be mature in the spiritual life or good living and certainly in romantic love of another, one must constantly try again and again to make things the way they should be. The secret of achieving anything that we consider important is that we will continually try to make it better than it is already. Jesus knew that growth in the spiritual life could not end at any particular time. It had to be continual, always paying attention to our innermost desires. Human love is exactly the same way. We can never rest with a feeling of contentment; we must always try even harder than we are already. It is no accident in Jesus’ story that the spiritual person could only achieve eternal life once he/she had placed material possessions in their proper place. Perhaps in all of living, including romantic love, we must learn that love is more important than any possession.

PRAYER Good and gracious God, your Son gave us one of the secrets of maturity when he told us to keep on trying to do better than we are. He told us to do it principally by controlling our desire for material possessions. Give us the grace to honestly understand his thinking. Be with us, we pray.

+++++ GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT Theme: It takes effort to follow through with something that we promise. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 1. In your opinion, what are the three most important things that we must do to inherit eternal life? 2. In your opinion, why did Jesus mention these commandments and not the others? 3. Text analysis: “Jesus looking at him, loved him.” What is the meaning of the sentence? 4. Jesus is speaking in an exaggerated way. In your opinion, why did Jesus often use exaggeration? 5. Analysis: Most spiritual commentators feel that we all have too many possessions. Do you agree and why? 6. Analysis: Why does the lady in the song “need to know” what she is asking? 7. In general, if you want to “keep” a friend, what three things must you do? 8. Text analysis: “Love me harder.” What does the sentence mean? 9. Why is it so difficult to give away our possessions? 10. What are the principal reasons why a love relationship fails? 11. In general, do most people honestly try to lead a good life? Yes or no and why? 12. In human love, what are the signs that a person is honestly “trying”? 13. What is your understanding of the spiritual life? See Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition, number 1699. 14. In general, have we learned that “love is more important than any possession”? Yes or no and why? 15. What does the song “Love Me Harder” teach young people?