Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Christ shows compassion through and because of our prayers

Prayer for the Day

O God, our Father, You have blessed us with Christ in numerous ways, but most deeply touching is Your compassion toward all who suffer. May we too express this to our brothers and sisters in His name. Amen

Reflection

Scripture is the Word of God, and we must approach it with intelligence and that sort of suspicion which will help us to seek out the hidden treasure which it contains. The story of the Canaanite woman seeking a cure for her daughter (Matthew 15:21-28) seems to be clear and have several levels of meaning: the priority of Jewish claims on God's beneficence and the value of persistence in prayer are two. And we can see that this latter point is supported by what Jesus has to say about the man seeking bread in the middle of the night (Luke 11:3-13) or about the widow and the unjust judge (Luke 18:1-8).

One tool of critical importance in our understanding of a passage like this is our personal experience, because when we confront our own experience of asking God for something and the seeming silence our request is met with we might and often do wonder whether God is listening or even whether the value of persistence in prayer is a hoax; which leads us, or at least should lead us, to a personal conversation with God about the problem.

Some possible points to consider in this situation: maybe we are asking for something that is not good for us or for others and maybe instead God is taking seriously our petition in the "Our Father" that asks that God's will, not ours, be done. Or maybe God is willing but the people we are asking him to influence are actively turning a deaf ear to his voice. Or the changes we are asking for cannot happen in a moment: ocean liners are not as maneuverable as bicycles, and we human beings have a lot of history and momentum to overcome.

Or maybe Scripture is not simply God's word to us but a place where, in the Spirit, we have a privileged place to exchange words with God, a place where we cooperate in his teaching our hearts and his helping us to grow in understanding, wisdom, patience, gratitude, and love.

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"I demand from you deeds of mercy, which are to arise out of love for Me. You are to show mercy to your neighbors always and everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to excuse or absolve yourself from it.

I am giving you three ways of exercising mercy toward your neighbor:
the first — by deed, the second — by word, the third — by prayer. In these three degrees is contained the fullness of mercy, and it is an unquestionable proof of love for Me. By this means a soul glorifies and pays reverence to My mercy.

Many souls ... are often worried because they do not have the material means with which to carry out an act of mercy. Yet spiritual mercy, which requires neither permissions nor storehouses, is much more meritorious and is within the grasp of every soul.

If a soul does not exercise mercy somehow or other, it will not obtain My mercy on the day of judgment. Oh, if only souls knew how to gather eternal treasure for themselves, they would not be judged, for they would forestall My judgment with their mercy".