The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 317: Persistence in Prayer (2022)

Episode Date: November 13, 2022

Fr. Mike reflects on the goodness and providence of God the Father, emphasizing how Jesus calls us to be shamelessly persistent in prayer. Fr. Mike also explains two difficult passages found in today's readings: what Jesus means when he tells the story of an unclean spirit who is cast out only to return, and what Jesus means when he says he comes not to bring peace but division. Today's readings are Luke 11-12 and Proverbs 26:7-9. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 317. We're reading two chapters from the Gospel according to Luke. That's Luke chapters 11 and 12.

Also Proverbs chapter 26 verses 7 through 9. As always, the Bible translation we're reading from is the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year because you have about a page and a quarter to go, roughly, give or take. I think I'm estimating about that. If you want, gosh, you know, don't pass up this opportunity to be able to mark off every day, every day.

Also, you can subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe and receiving daily episodes and daily updates. Today is day 317. We're reading Luke chapters 11 and 12, Proverbs chapter 26, verses seven through nine. The gospel according to Luke, chapter 11. The Lord's Prayer. He was praying in a certain place, and when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him,

Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples. And 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 who is indebted to us and lead us not into temptation. Perseverance in prayer. And he said to them, which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, friend, lend me three loaves

for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey and I have nothing to set before him. And he will answer from within, do not bother me. The door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything. I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity, he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask and it will be given you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds. And to him who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent, or if he asks for an egg,

will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, Jesus and Beelzebul, the prince of demons, while others, to test him, sought from him a sign from heaven. But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and house falls upon house. And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore, they shall be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons,

then the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. But when one stronger than he assails him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. The Return of the Unclean Spirit When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none, he says, I will return to my house from which I came. And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than

himself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. True blessedness. As he said this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that you sucked. But he said, Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it. The sign of Jonah.

When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, This generation is an evil generation. It seeks a sign, but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah became a sign to the men of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. The Queen of the South will arise at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon.

And behold, something greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The Light of the Body No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a bushel, but on a stand, that those who enter may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is sound, your whole body is full of light. But when it is not sound, your body is full of darkness. Therefore, be careful, lest the light in you be darkness.

If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, Jesus denounces the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and lawyers. While he was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and sat at table. The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. And the Lord said to him, Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of extortion and wickedness. You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also?

But give for alms those things which are within. And behold, everything is clean for you. But woe to you, Pharisees, for you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done without neglecting the others. Woe to you, Pharisees, for you love the best seat in the synagogues and salutations in the marketplaces. Woe to you, for you are like graves which are not seen

and men walk over them without knowing it. One of the lawyers answered him, Teacher, in saying this, you reproach us also. And he said, Woe to you lawyers also, for you load men with burdens hard to bear and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe to you, for you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed.

So you are witnesses and consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs. Therefore also the wisdom of God said, I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute, that the blood of all the prophets shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary.

Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation. Woe to you, lawyers, for you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves and you hindered those who were entering. As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak of many things,

lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say. Chapter 12, A Warning Against Hypocrisy In the meantime, when so many thousands of the multitude had gathered together that they trod upon one another, he began to say to his disciples first, Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have

whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed upon the housetops. Whom to fear? I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear. Fear him who, after he is killed, has power to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, you are of more value than many sparrows. And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God. But he who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven.

But he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how or what you are to answer or what you are to say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say. The parable of the rich fool. One of the multitude said to him, Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me. But he said to him, Man, who made me a judge or divider over you? And he said to them, Take heed and beware of all covetousness, for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.

And he told them a parable, saying, The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully. And he thought to himself, What shall I do? For I have nowhere to store my crops. And he said, I will do this. I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said to him, Fool, this night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be? So is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.

Do not be anxious. And he said to his disciples, therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat, nor about your body, what you shall put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens. They neither sow nor reap. They have neither storehouses nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? And which of you, by being anxious, can add a cubit to a span of life? If, then, you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon, in all his glory, was not clothed like one of these.

But if God so clothes the grass which is alive in the field today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O men of little faith? And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be of anxious mind. For all the nations of the world seek these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things shall be yours as well. Fear not, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give alms. Provide yourselves with purses that do not grow old,

with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The Necessity of Watchfulness Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the marriage feast, so that they may open to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly I say to you, he will put on his apron and have them sit at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch or in the third and finds them so,

blessed are those servants. But know this, that if the householder had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would have been awake and would have not left his house to be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. The Faithful and the Unfaithful Servant Peter said, Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all? And the Lord said, Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom his master will set over his household to give them their portion of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing.

Truly I tell you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that servant says to himself, My master is delayed in coming, and begins to beat the men's servants and the maid's servants and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will punish him and put him with the unfaithful. And that servant who knew his master's will

but did not make ready or act according to his will shall receive a severe beating. But he who did not know and did what his will, shall receive a severe beating. But he who did not know and did what deserved a beating shall receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much is given, of him will much be required. And of him to whom men commit much, they will demand the more. Jesus, the cause of division. I came to cast fire upon the earth, and would that it were already kindled. I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how I am constrained until it is accomplished. Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For henceforth in one house there

will be five divided, three against two, and two against three. They will be divided father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against her mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Interpreting the present time. He also said to the multitudes, when you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once a shower shower is coming, and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, There will be scorching heat, and it happens. You hypocrites!

You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time? Settling with your accuser And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer,

and the officer put you in prison. I tell you, you will never get out till you have paid the very last copper. The book of Proverbs chapter 26 verses 7 through 9. Like a lame man's legs which hang useless is a proverb in the mouth of fools. Like one who binds the stone in the sling is he who gives honor to a fool. Like a thorn that goes up into the hand of a drunkard It's a proverb in the mouth of fools Father in heaven, we give you praise And thank you so much for this day

Thank you so much for The ability to be able to hear Jesus Your word, speak words Thank you for the teaching of Jesus Thank you for his example Thank you for his coming As we prayed for his coming, as we prayed before, his coming to fight for us. But not only that, he's coming to teach us

and give us this wisdom. Lord God, we ask you please be with us this day and help us to pray in the way that Jesus taught his disciples to pray. Give us your spirit so that we can talk to you and listen to you the way that you deserve and the way that gives you glory and the way that just transforms our hearts and our lives. We make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ,

our Lord. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Gosh, you guys, there's so much to talk about, but a couple of things that I think are worth noting. One thing is when it comes to perseverance and prayer, I came across something, you know, chapter 11, the beginning where Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray the Lord's prayer, I came across something, you know, so this is chapter 11, the beginning where Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray the Lord's prayer, but then also he goes on to perseverance. A couple of things about this, because I think this is so important. One is that when Jesus uses the term persistence, it comes from, it's a word that essentially means, and this was the definition given to me, the shameless refusal to quit. That the persistent prayer, right? The person who's coming back to his friend, which is the image Jesus gives us to come to prayer.

That persistence, that shameless refusal to quit is just, I don't know about you, but something in me just responds to that really powerfully. That sense of, okay, God, what you've invited me to do, what you've invited us to do, what you commanded us to do is to have this persistence, this shameless refusal to quit, that sense of I'm going to keep coming back. I'm going to keep coming back. I'm going to trust you throughout this whole thing. Now, also along with that persistence, along with that shameless refusal to quit, I don't know if I mentioned this in the other gospels, but when Jesus teaches, ask and it will be given you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you.

We don't get this very clearly in our English translation, but in the original Greek, it isn't just ask like ask once or seek like seek once or knock. It is keep asking and it will be given. Keep seeking and you will find. Keep knocking and it will be given. Keep seeking and you will find. Keep knocking and it will be opened to you. And there's something about that that just, again, it highlights the shameless refusal to quit. It highlights the fact that God wants us to keep coming back to him. Now, only one style of prayer, one way of prayer is petition or intercession, where we ask for something for

ourselves or for someone else. But when we do, God has said, I want you to. And that's really important. Why? Because he says that, yes, would you, any of you, if your son asks for a fish, would give him a serpent? Or if he asked for an egg, give him a scorpion. If you then who are evil know how to give your children good things, the Father in heaven knows how to give good things. In fact, not just good things, some of the best things. In fact, the Holy Spirit. And this is one of the big key things. God doesn't promise to give us everything we ask for. And this is really important

because if we were to believe that, that God just gives us whatever we ask for, then God becomes kind of like, no offense, I don't mean to use this term, our sugar daddy in heaven, right? He's not our father in heaven, he's our sugar daddy in heaven. And that is not who he reveals himself to be. He wants our good. And so he says, the heavenly father will give the

Holy Spirit to anyone who asks, which means that if you ask for the Holy Spirit today, right now, in this moment, the father will give you his Holy Spirit. And I don't know, you guys, I just, we need the Holy Spirit. Maybe, I don't wanna say more than ever, but we definitely do now. I know I need the Holy Spirit in abundance. And I think that, my friends, I think we all do. So moving on, throughout this chapter, there's also this kind of, I don't know,

a complicated teaching, or maybe it's confusing teaching about the return of the unclean spirit in chapter 11, verse 24 and following. And it says, when an unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places, seeking rest, finding none. He says, I will return to my house from which I came. Basically goes back to that same person. And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than himself. And they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. I remember being so confused by this thinking, how in the world, what is this? What

does this even mean? And there is a priest, his name is Monsignor Charles Pope, just ingenious. He's incredible. And at one point he wrote on this and he went back again to the original language. He's kind of an expert in a lot of languages and he's an expert in scripture. And at some point, Monsignor Pope, which is, I know, an ironic name, what if he was elected to be the Holy Father? He'd be Pope, Pope. But Monsignor Charles Pope, he explains what this means. So the demon is delivered from this person,

and his soul is left, or he is left, empty, swept, and ordered. Now, these all mean something. In fact, ordered is going to be kind of a, not necessarily the most appropriate word, but every one of these things, these words mean something. So the house is empty. So here's the demon that's delivered from the person's soul. Of course, that's great. Or the person's body. I don't know what demons occupy, but it's empty, meaning the evil has been delivered, right? It's been removed.

But nothing good has taken its place. It's simply empty. And we all know that nature abhors a vacuum. We all know that even super nature abhors a vacuum, that I can get rid of bad vices, I can get rid of sins in my life. But unless I replace those vices with virtues, unless I replace those sins with acts of charity and goodness, what's going to happen is other vices will come in. So here's this person who was delivered from evil, but didn't do anything

to fill his life with good. It was empty and it was swept. And Monsignor Pope talks about this and says, well, if a good person has, by God's grace, been able to sweep sin from his life, praise the Lord, but there's a temptation there that you think, wait, I cleaned myself up. You know, I did the work. I made it clean. Satan was delivered and I tidied everything up. And the sin of pride, which is one of the most deadly sins, maybe it's the deadliest sin, can come in and he can not only be empty, right? That he hasn't brought virtue in,

but also looks around and sees the cleanliness of his soul and says, I did that. So empty and swept. And the last word is ordered, but he believes a translation that's better is ornate. And that word empty, swept, and ornate seems to indicate one of the things that Jesus is talking about when he talks about the scribes and Pharisees and lawyers who are hypocrites. That I want to appear to be a certain way, but I don't want to be a certain way. That I want people to think that I have virtue, but I don't want to actually live virtue. And I want to be decorated, right? I want to have this facade, this ornate room or perception of me that sees me as being better than I actually am. And so here's when Jesus tells this parable here, tells this teaching, it's less confusing

once we realize it, break it down. It's empty. So it hasn't been filled with God or things of God. It is swept and there's a temptation to pride and it is ornate, meaning it can just be all a facade. It's all just surface and nothing is penetrated into the heart. And that can just be a way, hopefully, you can understand the parable that Jesus tells in chapter 11. Now, one last thing when it comes to chapter 12, I think it'd be important to highlight. There are so many teachings here, but let me just highlight one at the end of chapter 12.

And it is Jesus, a cause of division. Jesus says, I came to cast fire upon the earth and would that it were already kindled. Do you think I've come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. Henceforth in one house, there'll be five divided three against two and two against three divided father against son, mother against daughter, et cetera. You know, one of the things that I've been reflecting on a lot lately has been that I think that there was a time in the history of Christianity when this few verses in Luke's gospel, when it was, you'd think like, oh, that's weird. We think like maybe

at the, in the beginning of the church, when people were converting to Christianity, yeah, maybe there's division in family, you know, father against son and son against father and mother against daughter, but not now. And yet right now we've entered a time, at least in the West, when this is completely true. when Jesus is a cause of division in so many people's families, when the teachings of Jesus are a cause of division in so many people's families. And I think, you know, it's worth listening to the words of Jesus and taking heart, knowing that he said this would happen. I deal with college students every single day who are grieved

when their parents aren't believers, right? And they're grieved that their parents, maybe they were raised Catholic, maybe they raised them Catholic, maybe not. We have a lot of those who come into fullness of the Catholic church here on campus, but they're grieved by the fact that my mom and dad don't know Jesus. My mom and dad haven't been fully converted. And that's not meant to be a judgment against the parents as much as it is meant to be, you know, they go home and they want to go to daily mass and their parents like, why in the world are they, they go home and they, they don't want it. They're not trying to be weird, right? They're not trying to make a point, but, but they find that what they believe as believers in Jesus seems to contradict what their parents are professing to

believe. And that grieves them so much. And I know many parents who are part of this community, what grieves you is that your children have walked away. Or we just even look at the culture, right? And we realize that in our world, there is so much division. Jesus says, I'm going to be a cause. I'm going to be one of the sources of division in your families. And I know that grieves us and breaks our hearts. And yet we can also take comfort. We can take courage to our hearts knowing that, okay, he said this would happen. And so it's not like I rejoice in this. I'm not, I'm not proud of this. I'm not happy about it, but I knew it was coming. And what we can do is we can pray for them. So I always invite our students. I said, gently, please be patient with your family, be patient with your parents, but just pray for them.

And parents, same thing. Be patient with your kids and just pray for them. Their story is not over yet. Your story is not over yet. My story is not over yet. We pray that we can be faithful and persevere until the end, the shameless refusal to quit until our last breath. And we get to step into eternity with the Lord, but also your parents story or your children's story, your friend's story, your siblings story, God willing is not over yet. And if it is over, we don't know the ending. We don't know their hearts. We don't know how they ended up when it came to the Lord. And so we just keep praying. We just keep praying and ask the Lord, please meet them, meet us where we're at with his grace.

We pray for them because we know we need it, right? I'm praying for you. Please, please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless. you