Wednesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

“The Lord’s Prayer”
by James Tissot, 1886-96

 
Readings for Wednesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time [1]
 
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
 
Readings and Commentary: [3]
 
Reading 1: Jonah 4:1-11
 
Jonah was greatly displeased
and became angry that God did not carry out the evil
he threatened against Nineveh.
He prayed, “I beseech you, LORD,
is not this what I said while I was still in my own country?
This is why I fled at first to Tarshish.
I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God,
slow to anger, rich in clemency, loathe to punish.
And now, LORD, please take my life from me;
for it is better for me to die than to live.”
But the LORD asked, “Have you reason to be angry?”
 
Jonah then left the city for a place to the east of it,
where he built himself a hut and waited under it in the shade,
to see what would happen to the city.
And when the LORD God provided a gourd plant
that grew up over Jonah’s head,
giving shade that relieved him of any discomfort,
Jonah was very happy over the plant.
But the next morning at dawn
God sent a worm that attacked the plant,
so that it withered.
And when the sun arose, God sent a burning east wind;
and the sun beat upon Jonah’s head till he became faint.
Then Jonah asked for death, saying,
“I would be better off dead than alive.”
 
But God said to Jonah,
“Have you reason to be angry over the plant?”
“I have reason to be angry,” Jonah answered, “angry enough to die.”
Then the LORD said,
“You are concerned over the plant which cost you no labor
and which you did not raise;
it came up in one night and in one night it perished.
And should I not be concerned over Nineveh, the great city,
in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons
who cannot distinguish their right hand from their left,
not to mention the many cattle?”
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Commentary on Jon 4:1-11
 
Jonah becomes angry with God for accepting the repentance of Nineveh.  He calls on God to destroy the city and then moves outside to watch the result.  As an analogy, the Lord causes a gourd plant to grow (castor-oil plant in the Jerusalem Bible) next to where Jonah waits.  Jonah was “delighted” with the plant, but the Lord took it away by causing a worm to attack it, killing it.  Jonah’s response was predictably emotional – anger with God – again.
 
This exchange was meant to bring home the point of the entire episode. God is faithful to his promise and as Jonah said: “I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, rich in clemency, loathe to punish.”
 
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 86:3-4, 5-6, 9-10
 
R. (15) Lord, you are merciful and gracious.
 
Have mercy on me, O Lord,
for to you I call all the day.
Gladden the soul of your servant,
for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
R. Lord, you are merciful and gracious.
 
For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in kindness to all who call upon you.
Hearken, O LORD, to my prayer
and attend to the sound of my pleading.
R. Lord, you are merciful and gracious.
 
All the nations you have made shall come
and worship you, O Lord,
and glorify your name.
For you are great, and you do wondrous deeds;
you alone are God.
R. Lord, you are merciful and gracious.
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Commentary on Ps 86:3-4, 5-6, 9-10
 
Psalm 86, an individual lament, asks for mercy from God. The singer asks God to give hope in distress, and in response the nations will give glory to God for his wondrous deeds. “The speaker’s life is in danger from unspecified causes (v 2). V 7 alludes to times of distress and v 4 indicates a lack of joy in the present situation, all in the rather generalized and formulaic language of prayers and laments.” [4]
 
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Gospel: Luke 11:1-4
 
Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished,
one of his disciples said to him,
“Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.”
He said to them, “When you pray, say:
 
Father, hallowed be your name,
your Kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread
and forgive us our sins
for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,
and do not subject us to the final test.”
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Commentary on Lk 11:1-4
 
The Gospel from St. Luke gives us a shorter version of how the Lord taught the “Lord’s Prayer” to his disciples. In St. Matthew’s Gospel (Matthew 6:9-15) this discourse takes place as part of the Sermon on the Mount. In St. Luke’s Gospel it is given while the Lord is himself at prayer.
 
Notes on the meaning of the various parts of the prayer are numerous. (See also CCC 2759 - 2865.) The short message in the Gospel is: “This is an appropriate way to speak to God.” The seven petitions of the prayer begin with an acknowledgment of God’s existence and omnipotence, praising his holiness. It continues with our further desire that the “will of God,” which creates his heavenly kingdom, may also rule on earth (your name; your kingdom; your will).
 
The next three petitions ask for grace and protection. The first of these is a petition to the Father that we be given nourishment, food for the body and (Eucharistic) food for the spirit, "our daily bread."  This petition is followed by a plea for forgiveness, a tacit admission that we have all sinned and all need God’s salvation. The second part of this petition is a promise that we will attempt to follow Christ’s example, forgiving others as we have been forgiven. The prayer concludes with a final petition that we not be tested as our Lord was tested by the evil one, tempted to forego his own passion thus condemning the world to sin and death.
 
CCC: Lk 11:1 520, 2601, 2759, 2773; Lk 11:2-4 2759; Lk 11:2 2632; Lk 11:4 1425, 2845
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Reflection:
 
Most of us have been through the process of dissecting the Lord’s Prayer, breaking down each line and each sentence to reflect on the meaning of this most common communal prayer.   It is an excellent exercise, reminding us that while we usually say it as rote prayer, out of memory alone, we should take time to think about the things we say and for which we ask.
 
The Scripture today gives us another prayer.  In the Book of Jonah, we hear the prophet speaking to God angrily.  He is angry because God did not come through with his promise to destroy Nineveh. That city-state was, after all, hostile to the people of Israel and since it lay outside the favored status of the “chosen people,” it should have been destroyed.  His attitude exemplifies the very position the story of Jonah was told to refute.  God, as we have said, comes for all peoples, his whole creation.  This point is made clear in God’s response to Jonah’s angry cry.
 
Still, Jonah is praying to God in the passage we were given today.  And, as promised so many times in Scripture, God answers Jonah’s prayer.  He says no.  Jonah’s prayer went contrary to God’s will and example.  He loves all his creation.  He tells Jonah: “should I not be concerned over Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons?” 
 
We note the huge contrast between the prayer of Jonah and the prayer our Lord taught to us.  Jonah’s prayer was full of anger and unjustified arrogance.  It demanded that God destroy thousands of people (not to mention the animals).  The Lord’s Prayer, on the other hand, first praises God and asks that his kingdom come to us and that we might live in peace, receiving from him all good things.  We offer up repentance for our failings and forgive our brothers and sisters, who, like us, have failed to love.  In humble submission we give ourselves to God’s will.
 
Today we remember that God always answers prayers.  He measures his response by a standard he sent to us, Jesus, his Son.  We pray today as he taught us. We especially use his prayer as part of the Rosary, the memorial of which we celebrated on October 7.
 
Pax
 

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[1] The picture is “The Lord’s Prayer” by James Tissot, 1886-96.
[2] S.S Commemoratio
[3] The readings are taken from the New American Bible with the exception of the Psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[4] Marvin E. Tate, Psalms 51–100, vol. 20, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1998), 380.