29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

I don’t know about you, but I am already seeing Christmas things around town, starting even before Halloween.

But it has reminded me of when I was a young boy and every year around this time the Toys “R” Us catalogue would be coming out.

I would sit at the kitchen table next to my mom as she read the morning paper, both of us drinking our coffee. Yes, I drank coffee when I was six!

I would usually use this time to tell my mom what I wanted for Christmas, sort of my prayer of petition to my mom.

In the Gospel today, Jesus gives us two odd characters, a powerful judge and a powerless widow. Luke tells us just one thing about the judge, he neither feared God nor humans and the widow, well she is a plaintiff in a case and is not getting any justice from the judge.

So what does she do? She makes a nuisance of herself. So much so. the judge finally gives in, not because she has put the fear of God in him, but because she is driving him crazy.

Now the lesson of the parable, if persistence can make a dishonest judge do justice, how much more will God? Or in other words, it is Jesus’ way of teaching that God hears prayers.

Now I could stop right there, with the truth that God hears prayers, ending my homily but for some those words might ring hollow.

Most of my 33 years have been filled with lots of prayers and there have been many of my prayers where I have to admit there is no answer. I don’t get what I pray for and I am guessing we have all been there.

Many of us have a whole lifetime of everyday experiences that seem to contradict Jesus’ promise; children still die or are lost to drug or alcohol abuse or suffer from eating disorders.

Parents still get divorced even after hours of heartfelt prayers.

The scores of people who died on 9/11, I would guess spent a large part of their last moments asking God to save them.

But what about Jesus’ promise. Jesus did not say, ask and I will think about it, he said ask and it will be given to you.

For me, in my own lifetime of sending prayers up to God and at times being frustrated, I have found comfort from the story of Job and God.

Job was a man totally blameless and then suddenly everything is taken from him; his whole family dies, his body is filled with the most painful of illnesses. When people see him they spit on him.

And Job spends his days asking God in prayer, why?

But God is silent. God answers none of Job’s prayers. Then at the end of the story God comes to Job. God finally speaks to Job but in God’s speech, He never tells Job why. God still leaves so much unanswered.

All God says is, “be still and know that I am God.”

The moment of grace for Job is not what is said. The grace is not in what God answered or left unanswered. The grace was found simply in the encounter, the meeting between God and Job. And Job finally got it, prayer was not about putting in a heavenly request and having it filled, prayer was an experience of God.

You know I never got everything that I asked my mom for at Christmas as I looked at the Toys “R” Us catalogue. I got some but some of my requests were unanswered. And it was only after many years that I realized that the answering of the Christmas wish list was not the grace or blessing, the gift was the hours I spent with my mother.

The real power of prayer Job and Luke reminds us is not having them all answered, but who the time in prayer is spent with.

Too often my prayer is all about me wanting answers. I want solutions. I want miracles.

Sometimes God gives them to me, but just as often, God does not. But on my best days of faith, in the midst of a multitude of unanswered prayers, in the midst of no miracles I can still find the peace Job found, that comes with simply having an encounter with God, in my prayer.

Sunday Mass begins at 11 a.m. with the Sacrament of Reconciliation at 10:15 a.m. Come pray with us at St. Michael Catholic Church located at 1004 W. Gentry in Henryetta.

Saint Francis of Assisi Service held

BY JAMES COX

St. Michael Catholic Church in Henryetta hosted a special service, blessing pets and animals on Oct. 4.

New St. Michael Pastor, Father Robert Duck officiated the service where parishioners and guests brought their pets to the service to be blessed in the traidition of St. Francis of Assisi Feast.

Born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone in and around 1182, Francis of Assisi was a mystic Italian Catholic Friar.

He was the founder of the Franciscans and one of the most respected figures in Christianity.

In 1223, Francis arranged the first Christmas live nativity scene. Francis became associated with patronage of animals and the natural environment.

In St. Francis’s honor, it became customary for churches to hold ceremonies blessing animals on his feast day, Oct. 4.

Henryetta got to hold its own celebration of the blessing of the animals or pets last Tuesday at St. Michael Church.

Several members of the community came with their pets and Carolyn and Kent Lackey brought their famous Arabian Stallion.

Father Duck climbed up on the trailer and gave his blessings to the horse.

St. Francis believed that nature itself was the “mirror of God!” He called all creatures his “brothers” and “sisters” and even preached to the birds. Legend has it he persuaded a wolf in Gubbio, Italy to stop attacking some locals if they agreed to feed the wolf.

As a Franciscan Priest, St. Francis was dedicated to a life of poverty and service to the poor. He begged for money and helped repair churches in the Assissi, Italy area.

Once, he even sold his former traditional clothes in order to help rebuild a small chapel near his home of Assissi, Italy.

St. Francis lived his life to glorify God in all things. In his dying words, he spoke of the Eucharist of the Church. He died in the year 1126 and in 1128 Pope Gregory IX canonized him on July 16, 1228 only two years after his death.

Father Duck told parishioners that in the future there will be many events and celebrations at St. Michael Church and everyone is welcome to attend.

Church membership is not required.

Henryetta Church of God will feature guest ministry from Jim and Karol Miller of Tulsa on Sunday morning, Oct. 23 at 10 a.m.

Join the Millers' for a morning of ministry, music, singing and testimony.

For more information, contact Pastor Deron and Karen Lee at 918-951-3862 or 918-378-6888.

Henryetta Church of God is located at 202 W. Gentry.

Henryetta First United Methodist Church

Henryetta First United Methodist Church will host a Halloween Trunk or Treat on Friday, Oct. 28 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

All area children are invited and encouraged to attend.

A two-day Thrift Sale Fundraiser will be held on Friday, Nov. 11 and Saturday, Nov. 12 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

This gigantic sale will include furniture, electronics, tools, toys, bedding, household items and much more.

Another fundraiser, a Chili & Bean Dinner, will be held on Saturday, Nov. 12 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Sides will include coleslaw, cornbread, a drink and dessert.

Delivery will be available. All funds raised will go to benefit a new roof for the church.

For more information, call 918-652-4452.

Hoffman Baptist Church

Come join us at First Baptist Church in Hoffman as we study and learn about our great Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Sunday School Bible Study begins at 10 a.m. and is followed by Morning Worship Services at 11 a.m.

Hoffman First Baptist Church is located at 4th Street and School.

Pastor of the church is Larry Baker and can be reached at 405-248-6067.

Everyone is welcome and invited to attend to join in worship and Sunday School services.