17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
Genesis 18:20-21, 23-32 Colossians 2: 6-14 Luke 11:1-13
Theme: Consistency in our faith
Today is the 17th Sunday of ordinary time Year C. From our liturgy today, we see the emphasis from the response to the psalm and from the teaching of Jesus in the gospel, on the need for us to rely on God, in good times and in bad times. Today we are told that Jesus took time out to pray, and that his disciples requested that he teaches them how to pray. That goes to show us the need for us to be people of prayer, and the place of prayer in our lives as children of God, as people of God, as Christians. My brothers and sisters in Christ, if Jesus, who is our Master and Lord, found it very necessary to take time out to pray, let alone you and I who are his followers. Today, the gospel says ask and you will be given, seek you will find, knock and the door will be opened onto you; this is a clarion call for you and I. Dear friends in Christ to embrace this wonderful opportunity in our lives, we must trust in God always and remember that he is ever faithful and he stands by his promises. He is a covenant keeping God, a God that never disappoints those who trust in him.
The questions today my brothers and sisters will be, in times of difficulties, in times of trials and tribulations, in times of the challenges of life, do you look up to God? Do you go in search of God? Do you call upon God to come to your assistance? God is ever willing to help us. The question is do we trust him enough, to anchor on him at such moments. He is ever ready to come to our assistance, he is ever ready to help us, it is just for us to make honest and sincere effort to cling onto him, even at such moments when we cannot even see solutions to our problem in sight. God continues to show us that he is God. God is always willing to come to our assistance whenever we go to him.
Dear friends in Christ, on this 17th Sunday of the year, we equally see from the first reading the power of intersession. Today Abraham intercedes for the people. That goes to show us that we need each other on this journey of faith, in this earthly pilgrimage, we need to carry each other along, because there is power in collective prayer. There is power in intercessory prayer. My brothers and sisters, just like Abraham did today, we can also become intercessors standing on the gap on behalf of our families, standing on the gap on behalf of our friends, standing on the gap, on behalf of the people of God, standing on the gap on behalf of the world at large. The question today would be, are we true friends of Christ? Because it is important for us to be at peace with God, for us to be able to take up the intercessory role just like Abraham. We must be people who are connected to God, people who can anchor on God, and have a good relationship with him.
My brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord invites us on this 17th Sunday, to embrace a life of prayer; to embrace a life that is worthy of emulation, to build our faith and trust in God, so that his blessings will abound in our lives. We pray on this 17th Sunday, that God will continue to strengthen us and grant us the dispositions we need to build our faith in him. Peace be with you!
Leave a Reply