Homily: September 9, 2025, Tuesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time (Pray)

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“Jesus departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God.”

What a perfect example for us to follow! Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, prayed. He who is God the Son, prayed to God the Father. He spent the whole night in prayer before choosing His disciples.

In His divinity, Jesus already knew the Father’s will. Yet in His humanity, He is just like us. He needed to spend time with His Father, to pray and to discern to be aligned with God’s will.

Jesus shows us a powerful example: we too must pray before making important decisions, to ask God what His will is for us. Sometimes, when we act without consulting Him, we may find ourselves going against His will or going a wrong long way before reaching which lead us through unnecessary suffering or other unbearable consequences.

So bring your plans to Jesus, tell Him your hopes, your preferences, your wishes, and He will bless you with the wisdom to choose wise and right.

But what if we prayed, heard, followed and still we get undesirable results? Yes, it happens. Even after prayer, our plans don’t always turn out looking right or perfect, did God make a mistake?

No. God does not make mistakes, but it might look like a mistake to us, because we do not see the bigger picture, but God always has the vantage view, and He sees the whole picture.

Remember that after praying, Jesus chose the Twelve, including Judas. Was that a poor choice, a wrong move?

Of course not. God had a greater plan, the betrayal that led to the suffering and death of Jesus advanced God’s plan and put it into motion. What looked like a disaster, is actually a blessing.

The same is true for us. We can’t see the future and we have no power over what is ahead of us, despite our best efforts and intelligent analysis to achieve the best results, reality is never within our control.

But if we sincerely seek God’s guidance and earnestly want to follow His will, He will inspire us, He will steer us and navigate with us. Whatever happens along the way, we need to keep trusting that He knows the way better than us, and He knows the results, and He is in control.

So let us learn from Jesus. Seek the Lord in prayer always. Ask Him for wisdom. Persevere in trusting Him. And know that if we remain faithful, He will make all things work together for good.

Amen.


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