There was a family who grew up on a ranch out in the West, and they only had one son, a little boy. On the ranch, they had all kinds of animals, but all his life, the little boy only wanted one animal; he wanted a horse. He would beg his parents over and over to buy him a horse. The neighbors would ask him, “When will you buy your son a horse?” The father would say, “I reckon I’ll do it at some point, but we’ll see; God only knows.” When the boy turned sixteen, the father decided to buy him a horse. When the father brought the horse to him, the boy was disappointed because it was a girl horse. He wanted a boy horse, so his neighbor asked, “Why did you do that?” And his father said, “I don’t know. I reckon only God knows why I did that.”
One night the horse escaped from the pen, and the neighbor said, “Man, I feel really bad your horse is gone.” And the farmer said, “Well, the horse is gone, but I reckon God only knows what will happen next.” The horse came back with a wild stallion. Now there was a boy horse that the boy always wanted, so the neighbor said, “Aren’t you glad your son finally has a boy horse?” And the farmer says, “I don’t know. I reckon we’ll see. God only knows.” So, the boy started riding the wild stallion. He wanted to ride this horse, and one day it bucked him off, he fell, and he broke his leg. He went back to his father, and the neighbor said to his father, “Man, I feel so bad that your son broke his leg.” The farmer says, “Well, I reckon, I don’t know. We’ll see. God only knows.” Then there was a war that broke out. They went around recruiting all the young boys in the villages, and they came to the boy’s house. They discovered he had a broken leg so that they couldn’t enlist him in the army. The neighbor told the father, “Man, you’re so lucky your boy doesn’t have to go to the army.” The father says, “Well, I reckon. God only knows if it’s good or bad.”
God only knows really what will be good or bad for us. Has anyone ever had a prayer that has not been answered? Ever ask God for something and haven’t had that prayer answered? Some of you have. The rest of you are walking saints. That’s great (laughter). God only knows sometimes what we need.
We hear in the second reading, “The Spirit comes to the aid of us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought.” The thing is, there might be things that we desire in life, and sometimes we’re praying for the wrong thing. God might have something even better in store for us. And sometimes, we do not know how to pray as we ought. There used to be a priest when I was an intern. He was the pastor. His office was here, and I would work over in the office around the corner. When it would get later at night, and he was going through all his calls, notes, and emails, I could hear him groan. I knew that it was almost the end of his day. Sometimes we groan, right? Sometimes we groan, especially when desiring something so much from God, and it feels like it won’t happen. We begin to groan.
We hear in this second reading, “The Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings.” Even more, than we groan or desire something, the Holy Spirit groans in us with inexpressible longings. This should bring us great joy and happiness because we sometimes don’t know how to pray. We pray, and sometimes God doesn’t hear us or answer us, we think. But the Holy Spirit is groaning in us, desiring God to answer our prayer. Think about groaning, a woman who is in labor. As she’s laboring and groaning, soon, and very soon, that child is born.
I want you to think about, in your life right now, what is it that you have been praying for. What do you desire from God? How have you been groaning and asking God and yearning for that prayer to be answered? Like the farmer in the parable, he would say over and over again, “We’ll see if it’s good or bad. God only knows.” The Holy Spirit knows. The Holy Spirit knows how to pray. The Holy Spirit groans in us so that the Father will hear us. So, take confidence in that. The next time you find yourself frustrated in prayer or with God, invite the Holy Spirit to groan in you. I want you to try to feel that, feel the Holy Spirit groaning in you to God, that he hears and answers our prayers.
