Thy Kingdom Come
Homily for Sunday, July 27, 2025: 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
I’ve always been fascinated by these promises Jesus gives us in the Gospels, these assurances of prayers answered.
For everyone who asks receives, He tells us in today’s Gospel.
As a child I remember reading in Matthew’s Gospel that where two or three are gathered in His name, whatever you ask in prayer shall be granted. Whatever you ask. That was certainly an intriguing idea for a young mind to ponder. But of course there is a vital caveat there which quickly occurred to me: that it’s very difficult to find someone else willing to join me in praying for my own selfish needs.
Not impossible. Certainly throughout history and even into our own time we can see examples of religious and even worldly leaders exploiting the good will and prayers of the people to serve their own personal gains. But six-year-old me never had that kind of charisma or influence.
And of course it goes against what Jesus is trying to tell us.
Jesus promises us that the Father in heaven will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him. That’s another distinction from Matthew’s version, which says the Father will give good things to those who ask him. But God isn’t a vending-machine or a celestial Amazon Prime, delivering us our daily whims as we ask for them. Here Jesus promises us the Holy Spirit, who will teach us how to pray.
In our first reading, Abraham is learning how to pray – learning how to address God, testing the extent of God’s mercy. And praying for the welfare of a people he doesn’t know, but he entrusts to the Lord’s sense of justice. Abraham gives us a model here of working to align our will with God’s, to pray your kingdom come, your will be done, and to find our way to wanting what God wants.
As I reflect on this reading, I’m struck by the contrast of the prophet Jonah. When the people of Nineveh repented and God had mercy on them, Jonah was disappointed that the promised destruction had been averted. Maybe he was concerned about his professional reputation as a prophet, if his biggest prediction didn’t come true. But ultimately, Jonah was too focused on what he wanted and not what God wanted.
Notice in the parable Jesus gives us today, the petitioner who goes asking for bread in the middle of the night is not asking on his own behalf. A friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer him. He is asking not for his own needs, but for something he can share.
This, of course, is why Jesus structures the Lord’s Prayer as he does.
I was reading recently a reflection from Dorothy Day about how often she would skim over those first lines of the Lord’s Prayer and only truly engage with the part about give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins. And she would have to go back to the beginning again to pray it as Christ intended.
Father, hallowed be your name; your kingdom come. Give glory to our loving and generous God, and look eagerly toward the fulfilment of His Kingdom.
Because that is what keeps us from self-centered prayer. God’s Kingdom is about the good of all. And our prayer should reflect that.
This of course is why we all come together today in prayer. This is why we follow this homily with prayers on behalf of our church, our community, and our world. This is where we are reminded that we belong to each other. We are the Body of Christ, supporting each other in work and in prayer.
I had a pastor years ago who used to scold parishioners whenever their intercessory prayers were for an unspecified “special intention.” We can’t truly pray as a community if we don’t know the needs of the community. We can’t truly support one another in prayer if we don’t know what or whom we are praying for.
But I think the important point, as we come together today, is that we are all praying for each other. The more we are able to unite in prayer, the more we can expect our Father in heaven to give the good things we ask him for.