Catechesis Notes for the Week — This Week’s Bible Stories from St. Luke—Jesus’ promises in the Gospel are the basis for every petition of the Lord’s Prayer and Jesus’ teaching on prayer in the Parable of the Friend at Midnight.  We can be absolutely confident that our heavenly Father hears our prayers and answers them when we “ask, seek, and knock” on the basis of His promises to us in the Gospel of His Son.  Every petition of the Lord’s Prayer is God’s Word and God’s promise to us, so that we might be bold and confident when we cry out to Him.  In a House Divided Cannot Stand, Jesus answers those who accused Him of being in league with the devil.  Satan’s kingdom is not divided against itself. Satan’s kingdom is in opposition to God, but Jesus is the Stronger Man who has come to bind Satan as He demonstrated in the casting out of unclean spirits and restoring to newness of life those who had been in bondage. At the Dinner at a Pharisee’s House, Jesus called the self-righteous Pharisees and lawyers to repentance for teaching a theology of works-righteousness and for rejecting God’s mercy for sinners.  Their disdain for God’s mercy was the motivating force for the persecution of the prophets down through the centuries, but for those who are brought to repentance, Jesus is the Savior of sinners and the Teacher of eternal life with God. Confessing Christ, begins with warnings about the works-righteous doctrine of the Pharisees, who would seek salvation by human merit, followed by an encouragement not to fear those who would kill us for our confession of faith in Christ.  Martyrdom gives witness to Christ and, if we are called to endure it, we should not fear it but rather rejoice that we in our death might bear witness to the death and resurrection of Christ for the salvation of the world.  Jesus warns that those who deny the confession of Christ have no place in heaven but promises that those who confess Him will also be confessed before His Father in heaven.  It is the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God, that will teach us what to say in the face of persecution for the name of Jesus.  The Parable of the Rich Fool warns us of the covetousness that is a part of our sinful nature and which wars against the confession of faith in Christ.  To be “rich toward God” is to cling to Christ alone.CP220703