Boldness and Confidence

Homily for Saturday of the Sixth Week in Eastertide

One of my favorite anecdotes concerns people who are living through a severe drought. The drought affected everyone, but it affected the farmers of that area much more. Their whole way of life was dependent upon the crops that they grew and sold to keep food on their tables and clothes on their backs. As the drought became more and more severe, the people of one congregation decided that they would gather on the coming Sunday to pray for rain. When the day came for them to gather together, their pastor noticed a boy who was standing in the front row. The pastor then smiled at the boy and said to the people, “Now here is a boy with real faith! I cannot help but notice that he is the only one of our congregation who has brought an umbrella with him.”

In the Gospel text for today, Jesus is encouraging his disciples as well as us to pray with boldness and confidence. No problems that we encounter are too big for God. God is the Lord and giver of all – the Creator, the one who is able to accomplish anything. So, when we pray and ask for God to intercede, it must be with the conviction that our prayers are heard and that God will give us anything that we ask in the name of Jesus. Like the boy in my story, we must pray with faith and trust, with boldness and confidence, with perseverance and assurance.