Prayer, and specifically prayer of petition, is the theme of today’s Mass. There are many kinds of prayer: praise, thanksgiving, intercession, and petition. There is mental and vocal prayer. There are meditation and contemplation. We can pray privately on our own or in the company of others. There are private prayer and the public prayer and worship of the Church, which we call liturgy. Each one has its time and place.
The First Reading (Exodus 17:8-13) describes the prayer of Moses in time of battle. The Amorites, ancient enemies of Israel, now under the leadership of Amalek, come to wage war against God’s people. We hear Moses giving Joshua a battle plan. Moses, quite old by this time, planned to sit out the battle, but would be up on a hill watching. But watching isn’t enough. The Amorites are having their way with the Israelites. So, Moses stretches out his arms in prayer and somehow that works to the advantage of the Israelites. As long as he keeps his arms up, the Israelites are able to get the better of the battle; if he lets them down because of tiredness, they would resume losing. Eventually, his aides get the idea to prop up his arms. They physically help Moses to pray. And the Israelites have the final victory. This is a story of total dependence on God – without him there would be no victory. “Without me, you can do nothing,” Jesus told his disciples at the Last Supper.
In today’s Gospel (Luke 18:1-8), Jesus speaks about prayer of petition, asking God for what we need – as opposed to just what we want or would like to have. The Gospel is a parable about a totally corrupt judge and a poor widow who is seeking justice. The corrupt judge cares neither for God nor for man (or widow). But he can be made to yield to the pestering of a totally defenseless and resourceless (no money to bribe) widow. How much more will a loving and caring God take care of his children? The lesson, then, is to keep on asking.
Does that mean we can keep asking for just anything? Some friends asked me once to pray they would win the $5,000 jackpot at the local parish festival. I half-jokingly replied that this was an abuse of prayer! It was not a prayer that we could seriously expect God to honor. And, if they had won, would that have been an answer to their prayer or simply good luck?
The widow, on the other hand, asked for something that God would certainly want for her – justice. Jesus elsewhere compares God to a decent, caring parent. Would such a parent give a child a stone when he asked for bread? Would a parent give a scorpion to a child who asked for an egg? If even worldly parents will give their children what they need, says Jesus, how much more will a loving God see to the needs of his children?
On that occasion, Jesus concluded his teaching by saying that God will always give good things to those who ask him. Luke’s version says that God will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask.
What are these “good” things? How do we ask for the Holy Spirit? Surely it means asking for those things that will bring us closer to God; what helps us to know, love and serve him better; what helps us reach a deeper understanding of his teaching. It means, above all, asking to know what his will is for us, and the strength to carry it out. It is asking that his will become our will so that there is a complete harmonizing of the two. I want to do what God wants me to do. His will and mine are one. And I end up doing what I want! Isn’t that wonderful!
When we read this parable about perseverance, we usually think of it in these terms: God is the judge, and we are the widow. In this setting means we should persevere in pestering God until we are given what we want. But I think we can develop a better understanding of what Jesus is saying if we turn the table around and we become the judge and God becomes the widow. In some ways, this interpretation makes more sense. We, like the judge, are basically unjust. Sometimes we, too, have no fear of God; that is, we do not allow God to scare us into being good. Similarly, like the judge of today’s parable, we persist in refusing to listen to the cries of the poor all around us.
In this turned-around parable, God now is the persistent widow who will not go away. God keeps badgering us, refusing to accept as final our “no” to love. God will persist until we render a just judgement, that is, until we let the goodness out, until we learn to love.
Perhaps it is the last verse that is the most important one for the disciples, and for us, to hear. “But when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?” This is not a story about praying until we get what we want. It is an encouragement to pray so that we might wait and watch for all of God’s comings and goings. It is about the aspect of faith that goes beyond believing in God as a dogmatic truism. It is about believing that the loving God cannot be otherwise than a loving God.
We dare to ask the very good question about why we should pray at all. Is there a mystical number of “asks” that we have before we tire God out, He gives in, and bingo, our request is answered! Is there a certain set of words which trips the benevolent bucket? People ask me to pray for them as if God has a special ear for my prayers. I do say I will pray for them, and that is exactly what I do. I pray that they make their situation into a prayer of watching and waiting for God’s presence, rather than waiting for God’s presents. What Jesus is asking of the disciples is a faith that combines with hope.
We are generally pragmatists. We put in time, effort, words, works, thought, creativity and we expect, yes, demand results. But this is not faith, this is business transaction. And God is not about business transactions.
Why are we called to pray? We pray so that we can experience our central human truths. We are not God. We are limited. We desire union, peace, and joy. We love being human until we experience needs, losses, injuries, and fears. We are invited to kneel right down in the midst of it all and have faith, which is not always pragmatically available and not always to our liking. We pray to announce our dependencies and our truth that faith, hope, watching, and waiting are those things that Jesus is asking for of the disciples and for us.
Perhaps our prayer could be: Dear God, Persevering One, make us more like you!
May God Bless You and Grant You His Peace!