29th Sunday in Ordinary Time C - Oct 17, 2004

Saturday October 16, 2004

Getting into the Rhythm of God

It has been said more than once that a sense of humor is the salvation of a nation or certainly of a difficult situation. Despite its redeeming qualities, however, humor must be used with care and sensitivity. Timing is everything. What is appropriate on one occasion may be totally inappropriate on another. Ordinarily we don’t tell jokes at funerals and it is unethical to engage in character assassination through political satire though this rule seems to be up for grabs during this campaign.

That having been said, we turn to the subtle humor in the Scriptures this Sunday in the Book of Exodus and in the behavior of the unjust judge in the Gospel of Luke.

Picture Moses standing on the top of the hill with outstretched arms, hands aloft facing the Amalek tribe with Aron supporting one arm and Hur supporting the other when Moses became fatigued. Was he attempting to honor or appease a warrior God who conditioned his intervention on Moses’ stamina? It’s more than an odd or eccentric image of God and I’m not certain this is what God intended then or now. Nevertheless, some even in our own time seem to cast God in this warrior-like image but more about that later.

Because of its translation, the humor in Luke’s telling of the parable about the unjust judge is subtle. First of all, the judge would not have been an observant Jew but more likely a gentile appointed by Roman authorities. The fact that he did not fear God is an allusion to the text from the book of Wisdom: “Fear [i.e., reverence] of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” The judge was corrupt because, despite the protection of law for widows, her welfare was less important to him than his own convenience. His fear of a black eye was the reason he decided to respond to her relentless appeal and persistent pleas. In fact God is not like the unjust judge any more then he is like the God depicted in the first selection from the book of Exodus.

These observations notwithstanding, the readings are indeed about the need to persevere in prayer. However, despite the impression to the contrary, perseverance in prayer does not demand on the one hand that we perform physical or spiritual gymnastics to please or appease God or on the other hand, “threaten” God. This may sound a bit humorous or even ridiculous but there are some who do insist on the performance of spiritual gymnastics in order to gain the attention of God. Excessive emphasis on certain devotional practices can lead to superstition. A careful distinction must be drawn for example between a novena of prayer recited at regular intervals and a chain prayer formula that guarantees success when recited in accordance with precise prescriptions. Church leaders, preachers, and spiritual directors need to be very vigilant in this regard so as not to impose conditions on certain prayers as if these prayers and rituals attached to them will somehow change the mind and heart of God. Though motivated by deep faith and the fervent hope of a sure response from God directly or through the intercession of a particular saint, even of the Blessed Virgin Mary herself, such mandates can convey the impression that if we pray long and hard enough, somehow God will relent and give in as a parent gives in to a child or as the unjust judge gave in to the cries of the widow.

While we may never threaten God, these conditions can amount to a threat to the pray-er.

The simple definition in the old Baltimore Catechism has enduring value: “Prayer is the lifting of our minds and hearts to God.” It is nothing more or less than tuning into God’s mind and heart not to capture and convert God to our will and destiny but to allow us to be captured by God’s will and purpose. In other words, persistent prayer, i.e., the consistent effort to converse with God with the aid of whatever prayer form works for us will ultimately bear fruit in our own conversion of mind and heart. Sooner or later, if our prayer is sincere, we will come to think and act like God. Jesus is the paradigm and model because his entire life was a prayer. He epitomizes what we are destined to become. The Scriptures tell us “he was obedient unto death.” This means that he listened faithfully to God and in the process was empowered to live in complete conformity to the mind and heart of God.

During this time in which we continue to struggle with the rhetoric of politicians and the challenge of finding new paths out of the chaos of war, our prayer is that we not be captured by the evil that is at the root of terrorism but to be captivated by the good that can come out of the efforts of those who are willing to sacrifice for peace. Our prayers will be heard and hearts will be softened and our awareness that we are part of a global village will increase and our thirst for justice will be directed not toward the violent who deny justice but toward those who have been deprived of a place at the table of humanity.

Our prayers will be heard if we continue to be of one mind with Jesus “who did not claim equality to God something to be grasped at but humbled himself, taking on the form of a slave for the sake of all humanity.

In the words of the famous Jewish biblical scholar, Rabbi Heschel, “Ultimately, there are no proofs for the existence of God, only witnesses;.” If we are to be so effective witnesses, we must put on the person of Christ—to be in our time and place what he was in his time and place.

The prayer of St. Ignatius expresses it well:

“Take Lord, my liberty, my memory, understanding, my entire self;
Take and receive, Lord, all I have and possess;
you have given all to me, now I return it.
Give me only your love and your grace;
That will be enough for me.
Take Lord, receive, all is yours now!”

Father Lasch
Pastor-at-large
email – kel@fatherlasch.com

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