NOTE: Christ in Our Neighborhood is a parish-based program consisting of small Christian communities that gather in the home weekly to prayerfully discuss the upcoming Sunday Mass readings. It’s easy to form a community and you can find out more at Christ in Our Neighborhood – The Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix (dphx.org)
This coming Sunday, we celebrate the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. The question the Christ in Our Neighborhood reflection asks us is: How often do you pray for others?
Are you like that persistent friend in the Gospel who keeps knocking on the door, asking for help? Or are you more like the person who says they’ll pray for someone but then forgets to do so? Maybe you’re in one camp or the other, depending on the day.
In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus tells us to be persistent in prayer and to ask the Father for all our needs. By gathering with your friends, family, neighbors or ministry partners in a Christ in Our Neighborhood small group, you can share some time for intercessory prayer and learn to pray for one another’s needs.
It’s good to keep in mind that God answers our prayers but it may not always be how or when we envisioned Him doing so. When we understand that He is a good Father who never abandons His children, we begin to trust Him more — and ask Him for more. As Jesus reminds us in this Gospel, “… ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you.”
If you haven’t joined a Christ in Our Neighborhood small group yet, perhaps you are being called to start one yourself. Check out our website today to find out more: dphx.org/Christ-in-our-neighborhood.
Watch the video of the weekly podcast segment featuring Christ in Our Neighborhood with Bishop Dolan by clicking HERE.
To sign up for our weekly Christ in Our Neighborhood newsletter that has everything you need for your next meeting, visit: https://phoenixdiocese.flocknote.com/CION
