DISCERNMENT IN PRAYER CALLS FOR OPENNESS

20161016 DISCERNMENT IN PRAYER CALLS FOR OPENNESS

Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: Green.

First reading

Exodus 17:8-13 ©

The Amalekites came and attacked Israel at Rephidim. Moses said to Joshua, ‘Pick out men for yourself, and tomorrow morning march out to engage Amalek. I, meanwhile, will stand on the hilltop, the staff of God in my hand.’ Joshua did as Moses told him and marched out to engage Amalek, while Moses and Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill. As long as Moses kept his arms raised, Israel had the advantage; when he let his arms fall, the advantage went to Amalek. But Moses’ arms grew heavy, so they took a stone and put it under him and on this he sat, Aaron and Hur supporting his arms, one on one side, one on the other; and his arms remained firm till sunset. With the edge of the sword Joshua cut down Amalek and his people.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 120:1-8 ©

Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

I lift up my eyes to the mountains;

  from where shall come my help?

My help shall come from the Lord

  who made heaven and earth.

Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

May he never allow you to stumble!

  Let him sleep not, your guard.

No, he sleeps not nor slumbers,

  Israel’s guard.

Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

The Lord is your guard and your shade;

  at your right side he stands.

By day the sun shall not smite you

  nor the moon in the night.

Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

The Lord will guard you from evil,

  he will guard your soul.

The Lord will guard your going and coming

  both now and for ever.

Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Second reading

2 Timothy 3:14-4:2 ©

You must keep to what you have been taught and know to be true; remember who your teachers were, and how, ever since you were a child, you have known the holy scriptures – from these you can learn the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and can profitably be used for teaching, for refuting error, for guiding people’s lives and teaching them to be holy. This is how the man who is dedicated to God becomes fully equipped and ready for any good work.

  Before God and before Christ Jesus who is to be judge of the living and the dead, I put this duty to you, in the name of his Appearing and of his kingdom: proclaim the message and, welcome or unwelcome, insist on it. Refute falsehood, correct error, call to obedience – but do all with patience and with the intention of teaching.

Gospel Acclamation

cf.Ep1:17,18

Alleluia, alleluia!

May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ

enlighten the eyes of our mind,

so that we can see what hope his call holds for us.

Alleluia!

Or

Heb4:12

Alleluia, alleluia!

The word of God is something alive and active:

it can judge secret emotions and thoughts.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Luke 18:1-8 ©

Jesus told his disciples a parable about the need to pray continually and never lose heart. ‘There was a judge in a certain town’ he said ‘who had neither fear of God nor respect for man. In the same town there was a widow who kept on coming to him and saying, “I want justice from you against my enemy!” For a long time he refused, but at last he said to himself, “Maybe I have neither fear of God nor respect for man, but since she keeps pestering me I must give this widow her just rights, or she will persist in coming and worry me to death.”’

  And the Lord said ‘You notice what the unjust judge has to say? Now will not God see justice done to his chosen who cry to him day and night even when he delays to help them? I promise you, he will see justice done to them, and done speedily. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find any faith on earth?’

DISCERNMENT IN PRAYER CALLS FOR OPENNESS

SCRIPTURE READINGS: [  Ex 17:8-13; 2 Tim 3:14-4:2; Lk 18:1-8 ]

Does God really hear and answer our prayers?  This question will elicit different answers from different people.  Some would declare confidently that God always answers their prayers, no matter what they ask for, and if they are not answered, it is probably because they lack faith that God can answer their prayers.  Others would hesitate and answer that God does not answer all our prayers for reasons we do not know.  Others still, find it useless to pray, for God cannot answer our prayers at all.  Everything is dependent on human and will- power.

What is the scripture’s response to this question?  In no uncertain terms, the scripture readings today affirm that God always listens to our prayers and answers them.  This is what Jesus taught us in today’s gospel when He gave us the parable of the judge and the poor widow, declaring that God “will see justice done to them, and done speedily”.  Then, we have the story of how Moses, whenever his hands were raised in prayer, his people won victory over their enemies.  Hence, Jesus exhorts us to pray continually and never lose heart.

Now, although it is true that God always answers our prayers, we must not understand this in a naive and simplistic way.  When we examine the parable given by Jesus, we must not over anthropomorphize God to the level of man.  In other words, we must not reduce God to the level of the human judge.  In fact, in the analogy between God and the judge, there is a much greater dissimilarity than similarity.   If not, then we might come to the conclusion that God, like the judge, is lazy and needs to be pestered before He answers our prayers.  Furthermore, when He answers our prayers, it is not because He wants to answer them, nor because He cares for us, but because He does not want us to be a nuisance to Him; and so responding to our requests is the best way to get rid of us.  If that is how God is like, such a kind of God surely does not command our respect, even less, our worship.

Nay, on the contrary, the point of comparison that Jesus wants to bring is that God is so unlike the judge.  Like the judge, God has no fear of man, but in a positive sense.  The judge does not fear God or man because he thinks only of himself.  He is so self-centered that he has no respect or concern for others, not even God in his life.  But God’s ‘fear’ of man is different.  If God does not fear man, it is because His love for us is not a grasping kind of love.  He does not love us so that we might love Him.  Rather, He loves us first even before we decide to love or not love Him.  He loves us because His very nature is love.  He loves us not even for our sake, nor for His sake.  His love is really a disinterested love – a love that flows from His very nature.

For this reason, God can freely bestow His favours and blessings on man without discrimination.  God is fair to us all and He loves us all the same.  He cannot be manipulated or be appeased.  We do not have to do anything for Him to gain His favour.  In other words, we cannot do anything to buy God over.  This is because He is complete in Himself.   Consequently, God’s justice is unlike the judge’s justice.  His justice is His merciful love for all and His care for all.  His justice is His impartiality in loving all without discrimination and without any selfish motives.

Within this context then, we can understand better that it is not simply because Moses raised his hands in prayer that God helped the Israelites to win the battle.  We should not read this text literally.  Rather the significance of the raised hands of Moses and the prayer of the widow is their persistent openness and trust.  All prayers are always answered by God without exception, provided we have this attitude of persistent openness to Him in trust. That is why Jesus declared at the end of today’s gospel, “But when the Son of Man comes, will he find any faith on earth?”  That is to say, can people be open to the different ways God enters into our lives?  The rejection of Jesus by His fellowmen is simply because they had their fixated ideas of how God should come as their saviour.

How, then, can one adopt such a persistent openness to God in trust?  By praying continually.  But this must be clarified.  To pray continually does not mean we keep on knocking on the doors of the heart of God, demanding that our petitions be answered.  No, to pray continually means to be in continuous dialogue with God in discernment.

How then do we discern whether our petitions are in line with the will of God? The second reading provides us the means of discernment.  It speaks first of all of our teachers, that is, the wisdom of the teaching Church, the tradition which we have inherited.  Secondly, Paul refers us to the scriptures, “from these you can learn the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”  By praying over the scriptures, we can be guided and inspired.  In reading the scriptures, we must keep an open mind and accept the Word, welcome or unwelcome, as Paul said.  Unwelcome, because there will be times when the Word challenges us in the ways and attitudes of our thinking. We might find it difficult to accept certain truths about ourselves or about life.  Yes, we are constantly being called to be true to ourselves.

However, when we see the error of our ways of thinking and living, we will spontaneously be converted.  We are converted not because of any compulsion but because we see the stupidity of our attitudes to life; the foolishness of the petitions that we pray for.  Yes, to be converted is to be converted to the will of God.  Prayers are not meant to convert God to do our will, rather, that we do His will.  Obedience to the will of God is not something which we carry out as a burden; rather, it is carried out joyfully and happily because we see it as something good for us.  If we find obedience to God’s will difficult, it is simply because we do not understand His will for us.  We are carrying them out in blind obedience, which goes against our intellectual and volitional grains.  The reason why we carry crosses in life is only because our will crosses God’s will.  But when His will and ours are one, there are no crosses to carry.

Yes, the faith that the scriptures ask from us, therefore is a faith that is open to the ways of God which are often above the ways of man.  With that faith and with the gift of God’s wisdom to see life differently, we will indeed find that all our prayers are always answered.  Not only will our prayers be answered, but we will find that the best answer that one can receive from God is that He does not answer our prayers at all.  Why? Because we will come to understand that He always provides what is best for us.  We will learn to trust Him at all times and only be open to His providence.  Of course, such an attitude can be in us only if we are like Moses and the widow who were persistently open.  Such openness means that we can never lose heart no matter what comes our way. And we therefore will always be at peace with God and within ourselves.

Written by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved