Genesis 18:20-32 / Colossians 2:12-24 / Luke 11:1-13
The art of communication is indeed a form of art. It has to be learned, it has to be practiced, it has to be refined, in order to be good at it.
Another way of looking at the art of communication is to call it the art of negotiation.
Practically speaking, it is a way of turning a NO into a YES, or YES into a NO.
Maybe this example will give us the idea:
Father says to his son: I want you to marry a girl of my choice.
Son says: No.
Father says: The girl is Bill Gate’s daughter. Son says: Then okay.
Father goes to see Bill Gates and says: I want your daughter to marry my son.
Bill Gates says: No.
Father says: My son is the CEO of the World Bank.
Bill Gates says: Then okay.
Father goes to the President of the World Bank and says: Appoint my son as CEO of your bank.
President says: No.
Father says: He is the son-in-law of Bill Gates. President says: Then okay.
Call that the art of communication, or the art of negotiation, or the art of confusion, or whatever, there is one important factor that needs to be noted.
And that is, we have to know who we are talking to.
In the 1st reading, we can say that Abraham was pushing all the buttons as he seems to be bargaining with God for the lives of the people of the two wicked towns.
Abraham knew that God is merciful and compassionate.
So, he asked questions like, “Are you really going to destroy the just man with the sinner? Will the Judge of the whole earth not administer justice?”
This conversation between God and Abraham revealed a couple of truths.
Abraham spoke daringly, but he also knows who he is, and he knows that God is merciful and forgiving.
He expressed it in statements like, “I am bold to speak like this to my Lord, I who am just dust and ashes. I trust my Lord will not be angry.”
That conversation between God and Abraham also revealed the nature of God.
Besides being merciful and forgiving, God listens to His people, and even allows them to speak daringly to Him.
That 1st reading tells us how intimate God is to His people.
And in the gospel, Jesus also tells us how much God loves us.
Jesus tells us to ask and it will be given to us, to search and we will find, to knock and the door will be opened to us.
And Jesus goes on further to say that the one who asks always receives, the one who searches always finds, and the one who knocks will always have the door opened to him.
But we know that from experience, when we pray to God for need, the answer is either a Yes, or a NO, or a LATER.
A “Yes” is when God wants us to act immediately.
A “No” is because God has something better for us.
And a “Later” means that it is not yet time.
We may be able to understand what it means by “Later”, but there can also be a “yes and no” answer, a so-called “in-between” kind of answer.
The following story may help us understand this.
A priest was sharing that when he was discerning his call to the priesthood, he decided to ask God for a difficult sign.
He decided to ask God to show him a blue moon, which he thought will never happen.
Then one day, as he was driving and listening to the radio, out came this song: “Blue moon, you saw me standing alone …”
Immediately he stopped the car and he knew he had to say yes to God.
So, that priest asked for a difficult sign from God.
He did not get exactly what he asked for, but yes, he knew it when God gave him the sign.
So let us ask, let us search, and let us knock.
God will listen to our prayer, and every prayer that is uttered is also every prayer answered.
And when God speaks, when God shows, may the Holy Spirit help us to listen, to see and to do what God is asking of us.