REFLECTION:

One thing I’ve learned in parish life is that just because someone has been Catholic their whole life, or has been coming to church for many years, doesn’t necessarily mean they know everything about their faith, or even that they know how to pray. And really, that’s true with a lot of things in life.

Someone can be Filipino, but that doesn’t automatically mean they know the Filipino language or everything about the culture. Someone can become a teacher, but that doesn’t automatically mean they know how to manage a classroom. That takes time. You learn. You grow. You ask for help.

And I think that’s what makes today’s Gospel so interesting.

These disciples have been following Jesus around. They’ve heard him preach. They’ve watched him perform miracles. They’ve seen him go off by himself to pray. You would think by now they would know how to pray! But one of them comes to Jesus and says: “Lord, teach us to pray.” I love that. Because there is humility in that request.

“Jesus, I’ve been following you. I’ve been watching you. But I still have something to learn.” And maybe that’s something all of us need to admit from time to time. “Lord, teach me to pray.”

Today we celebrate the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary, and perhaps that is one of the great gifts of the Rosary. The Rosary teaches us how to pray. Sometimes we don’t know what to say to God. Sometimes we are tired. Sometimes we are distracted. Sometimes we start praying a decade of the Rosary and halfway through we’re thinking about what we’re going to eat for dinner. And suddenly we realize, “Wait, what Hail Mary am I on?”

It happens!

But you come back. Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory Be. And you continue.

The Rosary is not proof that we already know how to pray perfectly. The Rosary is our way of saying again and again: “Lord, keep teaching me how to pray.”

And our first reading reminds us that we never stop learning. Peter was an Apostle. He walked with Jesus. He was chosen to lead the Church. Yet Paul still had to challenge him because Peter allowed fear and the opinions of others to affect the way he acted.

Even Peter was still learning. And so are we.

We are still learning how to pray. Still learning how to trust. Still learning how to forgive. Still learning how to follow Jesus. And Mary accompanies us in that journey. When we pray the Rosary, Mary does what she has always done. She points us toward her Son.

So today, maybe our prayer can simply be the prayer of the disciples: “Lord, teach us to pray.” And then pick up the Rosary and allow Mary to help us do exactly that, one bead at a time.