A sermon on Luke 11:1-13

By Fr. Mike Paraniuk
HCP columnist

W.C. Fields was a famous comedian who entertained audiences with his raspy southern drawl before most of us were born. He was known for his big red bulbous nose due to years of hard drinking. 

There was a line in one of his movies in which he said, "Once, on a trek through Afghanistan, we lost our corkscrew... and were compelled to live on food and water for several days." 

He did not live a moral life. Then, a surprising thing happened. Fields was in a nursing home, his body broken from years of drinking. A fellow actor paid him a visit as Christmas Day was approaching. He found Fields, who did not believe in God, reading from the Bible while sipping on a martini. 

The friend asked, "Bill, what are you doing reading the Bible?" 

Fields looked at his friend, smiled and answered, "I'm looking for loopholes."

Fields left us on Christmas Day 1946, hoping to escape (loophole) the punishment he knew he deserved by asking God for mercy.

Jesus is the loophole by which all of us can escape the punishment we deserve. We owed a debt to God due to our sins “which stood against us and condemned us; he (Jesus) has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.” 

Our response to God for this most generous gift can only be one of gratitude. But how do I show my gratefulness to God for His love in action called "grace," which I do not deserve? The answer can be found every time you pray the Our Father.

The Our Father is more than just a prayer. It is a way of life. "Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name." Live your life to please God in all ways because He is your Father who loves you. The Father wants you to be holy. "But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do." (1 Peter 1:15.) If you honor God as holy, you better be holy too. Holiness is a vow to live the way God wants you to live. 

How does God want you to live? What is the most important holy act you can do?  

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Love your neighbor as yourself." (Matthew 22:37 and 39.) When you do this, you make God's Kingdom come alive on earth.

"Give us this day our daily bread." God wants you to help others have their daily bread when they have none.

"Forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us." If you want God to forgive you, you must forgive others. You can't have one without the other.

"And do not subject us to the final test." This is a plea that God protect you from temptation to lose faith in Him. As I visit parents at Cincinnati Children's, I not only pray for their sick child but encourage those parents to not give up on God. Don't lose faith in God when you need Him the most.

There are no loopholes in love. We can never escape God's command to love. You can never live for God by saying, "I love people, but not these other people." There is no one who falls outside of God's love.

The peace prayer of St. Francis says "where there is hatred, let me bring love." The lives of two people who should be enemies came together at a KKK rally. A white man with Nazi tattoos and an 18-year-old black girl. The white man got too close to the crowd of anti-KKK protesters. A mob of both white and black people knocked the Nazi to the ground. They proceeded to punch and kick him viciously. A brave young black girl stepped out of the crowd to say, "This isn't right." She protected the white racist by throwing her body on top of his. The mob stopped the attack.

Why did she help this man who hated her very existence? She said, "I knew what it was like to be hurt. The many times that it happened, I wish someone would have stood up for me." 

When life hurts you, Jesus stands up for you. He stands by your side. Jesus knows what it's like to be hurt.