By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
Archbishop Thomas Wenski preached this homily during a Mass Oct. 19 at St. Raymond Church with Knights and Dames of the Holy Sepulcher.�When the Son of Man comes will he find faith on earth?� Jesus� question comes after a strong exhortation for us to pray always � and to pray without losing heart.
Today at this Mass are gathered Knights and Dames of the Most Holy Sepulcher. These men and women help support the mission of the Church in the Holy Land. Their charity helps keep open Catholic schools in a country and a region in which Catholics endure great pressure � both from Jewish authorities and from their Muslim neighbors who, like most of the Catholics in the Holy Land, are Arabs. Thus, besides their charitable work, the Knights and Ladies of the Holy Sepulcher � and all of us, as well � are called to pray for peace in the Holy Land, for peace and a just social order throughout the Middle East.
Last month, when it seemed like the Unites States was preparing to intervene militarily in Syria, Pope Francis called for a special day of prayer. He saw clearly what perhaps President Obama couldn�t see when he threatened to bomb Syria, namely that such a recourse to violence would be folly; it would be like throwing gasoline on a burning fire in an attempt to put it out. We saw that the United States did not bomb Syria, we saw Russia step forward to assist the Syrian government in removing the chemical weapons whose use by the Assad regime was the reason for the President�s threat to intervene.
So we could say that those prayers of Pope Francis � and those who joined with him � did not go unanswered. But at the same time, since Russia didn�t get involved to do the U.S. any favors, since the civil war still rages on, and a couple of million Syrians are refugees, there is certainly a need for us to continue to pray � and not lose heart. And in a special way, at this Mass, we invoke Mary, Our Lady of Palestine, to intercede for us and to win for the peoples of the Middle East and for the Israelis and Arabs in the Holy Land the gift of a just and lasting peace.
Yes, we must pray for this � and pray without losing heart.
But sometimes we do lose heart. We live in an age of instant coffee and instant messages, we tend to want also instant results � and so we become impatient in prayer. We pray for peace; we pray for justice � but both peace and justice do take time to achieve. We have to be careful lest we give up too quickly. We heard the TV lawyers say, �I rest my case� � but they only do so after they finish presenting every argument, every shred of evidence. If they were to rest their case too early, they would risk losing.
Jesus in the parable of the widow before the unjust judge tells us, �Don�t rush to rest your case before God.� Keep on pleading your cause, keep on making your case, and keep on praying with persistence.
But, as the Gospel parable suggests, prayer requires persistence. In the first reading, we see Moses praying with his arms held up high � and as long as he persisted, the Israelites prevailed in battle. Prayer is hard, because prayer is work. It is asking, seeking, knocking on the door. �The Lord said �Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says.� Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night?�
In the many difficulties and challenges we face in our daily lives, we have to be convinced that if the Lord takes us to it, he will take us through it.
Too often, we find in our people � and in ourselves � a rather simplistic, maybe even a pagan, understanding of prayer. We think of it as trying to change God�s mind: We think of prayer in terms of �Father, my will be done� and not in terms of �Father, your will be done.�
Think of a man on a boat, trying to bring it to the dock. As he approaches the dock or pier, he throws out a line so that a helper on the dock can tie it to a piling. He then pulls on the line � in doing so, the dock doesn�t come to him; rather in pulling on the line, he moves the boat towards to dock. Prayer isn�t pulling God towards us; it is pulling ourselves towards God - and if the waters are choppy, we�ve got to pull harder on the line. The purpose of prayer is not to change God�s mind, but to change our minds, to change our hearts, our attitudes � and to bring them closer to God�s heart and to God�s way of thinking. The lack of peace and justice in the world, after all, is not God�s doing; it�s man�s doing. So, we�ve got to pull ourselves towards God � with persistence, and with confidence. Which is why prayer is hard work, and why it requires no little exertion � and persistence.
St. Gregory of Nyssa � an early Church father of the 4th century, said, �Prayer brings us close to God, and when we are close to God we are far from the Enemy. Prayer safeguards chastity, controls anger, and restrains arrogance. It is the seal of virginity, the assurance of marital fidelity, the shield of travelers, the protection of sleepers, the encouragement of those who keep vigil, the cause of the farmer�s good harvest and of the sailor�s safety.�
Since we are Christians, we must pray as Christians. Every prayer must start from Jesus � it is he who prays in us; it is he who prays with us; it is he who prays for us. Jesus asks, �When the Son of Man comes will he find faith on earth?� Prayer is investing in what we believe � if we pray, he will find faith. St. Augustine once said, �In order to pray, let us believe, and for our faith not to weaken, let us pray. Faith causes prayers to grow, and when prayer grows, our faith is strengthened.�
