My dear parishioners, a desperate man stands at the threshold of his neighbor's door, his cries shattering the solemn stillness of the sleeping village. His need is urgent for he has nothing to offer his unexpected friend to whom he is bound by hospitality. He begs his neighbor to give him three loaves of bread so that he may fulfill his friendship duty. From inside, the master of the house shouts, “Do not bother me!”  [Lk 11:5-10]  

Jesus’ marvelous little parable of confrontation is a timeless what if story situated in the present tense. Though the parable is not fact, its story is true. It happens all the time. Will the neighbor return home in despair with nothing for his unexpected visitor? Before we draw our own conclusions, Our Lord presses the answer in our hands, in the future tense. In the midnight hour, a loud knock ricochets up and down the darkened street. The master will arise, open the door to his neighbor and proceed to help him. 

Taking refuge in our need for predictability, we may assume that Jesus will resolve the story with an instruction on human friendship. We might further expect Our Lord to say that acting for the sake of friendship should be one's habitual intention. After all, Jesus portrays the two persons in his parable as friends. Although off-stage in the parable, the unexpected visitor also is portrayed as a friend. Did not our Lord teach, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself"?  [Mt 12:31]  
 
A potter fashions graceful vessels from the rough clay of the earth, giving each form and function. Friendships are like clay in the hands of an artist. They are the plastic medium of human society. Like vessels in a well-organized household, relationships are distinguished by design and purpose in a well-ordered society. Every person is called to master the art and science of crafting strong relationships for the sake of his and others’ humanity. The right of friendship is to persevere. The obligation of friendship is to respond. One who entrusts himself has the right to persist, the other an obligation to serve.

Yet our penchant for predictable outcomes fails us. Our Lord neither discounts human friendships nor does he exalt them. In his parable of neighbors at midnight, Jesus bypasses the friendship motif altogether. The Son of God has come to save souls not to model friendship. 
 
Not surprisingly, there are as many reasons for prayer as those who pray. Yet in the end, reasons do not gain a hearing before God. Souls do. You are the nameless sojourner in the parable of the night visitor. Your human journey has been arduous. You seek a place to rest and feast. You knock on the door of the Church who in the eyes of the critical world has very little to offer her pilgrims. In need of "daily bread", the living Church herself must knock at the door of God’s heaven, beseeching the graces and blessings of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for her members. 
 The man at the door asked for three loaves. Perhaps all he received was one. We do not know. We do know we receive from God what he wills and as much as we need. Inasmuch as our steadfastness in prayer is more important than what we pray for, how God answers prayer is of less consequence than the certainty that God does answer our prayer. We will to persist for God has given us the right to entrust ourselves to him. God wills to serve us, for in truth, "our Father knows what we need before we ask him".  [Mt 6:8] Nevertheless, says the Lord, you must ask, seek and knock, never doubting God’s generosity or his divine will. Sincerely, in the hearts of Jesus and Mary. Your pastor, Reverend Richard Barker.
 

+++