Pizza
Night was a favorite night for me growing up. OK pizza night is still one of my
favorite nights of the week, but it’s not the same as my dad’s pizza
night. Now, Judy and I visit to our
favorite pizza place and watch them make our pizza. Dad made his pizzas from scratch. Pizza night then was more than a night, it
started first thing in the morning, when he made the dough. 4 cups of flour, dash of salt, dab of olive
oil, 1½ cups of water and a small packet of what he called his secret
ingredient. He’d split the dough between
two bowls cover them with a towel and then we’d go do chores and play for the
day. When we came back to make the pies,
the dough that looked barely enough for two pies had grown big enough to make
four pies! Dad would joke how it was his
secret ingredient in that little packet.
Yep, yeast.
God
could use this secret ingredient to help refocus our nation’s pledge to be “one
nation under God”. It’s possible! Consider our first reading from Genesis where
we hear this wonderful bargaining between Abraham and God. Can we bargain with God? Look at it this way. “In any relationship there is the freedom to
allow the other person to change us, to influence us.”[1] While Abraham does get God down to ten just
men, the idea is that God is willing to deal with the whole because of a few;
all we need is a few to get it right!
All God needs is some yeast among his people.
G.
K. Chesterton once said, “We are all in the same boat in a stormy sea, and we
owe each other a terrible loyalty.”
We’re all caught up in God’s great sweep of love. All it takes is a few enlightened people to
influence a parish, a neighborhood, or a city, even a nation. How!?
The
Gospel today gives us the model prayer, though considerably shorter than
Matthew’s account and the prayer we recite as part of this liturgy, Luke
version can help us unpack how we can be God’s secret ingredient to spare our
world from destruction.
When
we pray this prayer we start with a very bold statement. “Our Father, who art in heaven…” (Mt 6:9).
By our baptism, we are adopted sons and
daughters of our heavenly Father. It is
a privilege, both a gift and a commitment that acknowledges our true
citizenship and home as God’s children.
“Give
us each day our daily bread” (Lk 11:3) “this petition captures the peasants
view of time, neither yesterday nor the distant future is of concern, it’s only
the needs of “this day, today,” the immediate present, which command attention.”[2] When I visited Madagascar in 2013 I gained a
real understanding of this truth. Most
of the people I visited were concerned with making enough to survive the day. Yes they had dreams for their children’s
future, but life was about getting the daily bread. In our nation’s current state of violence,
terrorism, and addictions better than ever we have very real reminders that
tomorrow is not a guarantee.
“forgive
us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, …” (Lk 11:4)
Do you know what the prerequisite is to
having our sins forgiven? This prayer
tells us we can only receive what we our self give. We must forgive others, even the ones who may
have hurt us. Put another way, we must give
up the rights to our grievance because it is just a search for power; for
superiority; a search to say, or a need to say, I gotcha! You did me wrong and now you owe me. We have to let it go!
We
live in very turbulent times, the headlines are full of violence against police
officers, crimes against children, division between races, and rampant
addictions to drugs, sex and Pokémon. How do we turn the tide of these stormy seas? Know and accept our role and responsibility
as God’s secret ingredient. Are you
interested in knowing the recipe to achieve a more peaceful now!? It’s all about establishing relationship, a
relationship of trust. It’s a recipe to
being a conduit of grace, freedom, and healing for the world.
The
first ingredient is our authentic self, knowing who we really are, “God created
man in His own image … male and female He created them.” (Gn 1:27)
We need to develop an intimate
relationship with “Our Father”, commit to a life of prayer, live the model
Jesus our brother lived, a model of compassion, mercy, and self-giving
love. The second ingredient is living in
the present moment. Slow down enough to be
in the now moments, be in the present moment with your family, the present
moment with the friend, co-worker or even the stranger who just needs to bend
your ear. Don’t try to fix them or judge
them, just lend them you ears and be in the present moment with them. The third ingredient is forgiveness, always the
first step to the path of reconciliation and a renewed relationship.
With
these ingredients, we can be mixed into the greater community, having the same
influence a tiny packet of yeast has on the dough. We can become the secret ingredient that
raises our community to new heights. In
the midst of the stormy seas, we can be the beacon to safe harbor; in the midst
of the political rhetoric we can be a consistent moral compass guiding all too
right relationship. All we have to do is
ask for the gift of the Holy Spirit, seek his wisdom, and knock on the door of
opportunity to become God’s secret ingredient in the world.
[1] Hungry, and You Fed Me, Edited by
Deacon Jim Knipper © 2012. “So I tell you, ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened.” by Fr.
Richard Rohr, O.F.M.
[2] Social-Science Commentary on the Synoptic
Gospels by Bruce J. Malina & Richard L. Rohrbaugh © 2003. Fortress Press, MN.
