The Gospel explicitly gives the theme for today: “the necessity to pray always without becoming weary” (Luke 18:1). Why? So we may have faith. “But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (v.8). But we can ask this question: do we really need to pray?
In prayer we recognize we cannot save ourselves. In the First Reading, we hear of how Joshua leads Israel into battle against Amalek. But Israel does not win by its own strength. No. Only when Moses’ hands are raised does Israel start winning; when his hands lower, when he wavers in prayer, Israel starts losing. So it is with us. St Benedict urges his monks that “every time you begin a good work, you must pray to him most earnestly to bring it to perfection” (Rule of St Benedict, “Prologue”, 4). Our life is a battle against sin, temptation, and the devil, and only through constant prayer can we win against our enemies because it is the Lord who fights for us and with us.
But on the other hand, our salvation is not based on any human action, but in a person. “I lift up my eyes to the mountains; whence shall help come to me? My help is from the LORD, who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:1-2). St Augustine comments that the mountains are those who can see with the eyes of God. In short, the “mountains” are those closest to God such as Moses (“Tractate 1 on the Gospel of John,” no. 2). Prayer is how we climb the mountain to see God, but our salvation is not the mountain. Our salvation is only in God revealed in Jesus Christ who “is both the mediator and the fullness of revelation” (Dei Verbum, no. 2).
Unlike the judge who feared neither God nor man in the Gospel, we have a high priest who constantly makes intercession for us and knows our sufferings (cf Hebrews 4:14-16). To pray, then, is to join in Jesus’ constant prayer that knocks on the Father’s heart to have mercy on ungrateful humanity. We pray so God may give the grace for us to remain faithful in what we “have learned and believed” (2 Timothy 3:14): that Jesus is faithful even when we are not (2:13) and “never to lose hope in God’s mercy” (Rule, 4, 74). “So let us approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).
Joseph Yuson – St. Joseph Seminary, Edmonton, Alberta
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