{"id":28251,"date":"2015-08-11T17:10:51","date_gmt":"2015-08-11T23:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/?p=20376"},"modified":"2017-04-17T21:58:38","modified_gmt":"2017-04-18T01:58:38","slug":"prayer-in-despair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/prayer-in-despair\/","title":{"rendered":"Prayer in Despair","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for Tuesday, August 11th, 2015
Memorial of St. Clare<\/p>\n

Liturgical texts here<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

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PERHAPS <\/b>the deepest trial many are experiencing today is the temptation to believe that prayer is futile, that God neither hears nor answers their prayers. To succumb to this temptation is the beginning of the shipwreck of one\u2019s faith…<\/p>\n

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DESPAIR IN PRAYER<\/p>\n

One reader wrote me saying that he has been praying for years for the conversion of his wife, but she remains as obstinate as ever. Another reader has been unemployed for two years and still can\u2019t find work. Another is faced with endless sickness; another is lonely; another with children who have abandoned the faith; another who, despite frequent prayer, reception of the Sacraments, and every good effort, continues to stumble in the same sins.<\/p>\n

And so, they despair.<\/p>\n

These are but a few examples of the difficult trials many in the body of Christ are facing today\u2014not to mention those who are watching their children starve to death, their families break-up, or in some cases, put to death in front of their very eyes.<\/p>\n

Not only is prayer possible in these situations, but it is essential. <\/i><\/p>\n

In the profound passages on Christian Prayer in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, <\/i>it says:<\/p>\n

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Filial trust is tested – it proves itself – in tribulation. The principal difficulty concerns the \"\"prayer of petition<\/i>, for oneself or for others in intercession. Some even stop praying because they think their petition is not heard. Here two questions should be asked: Why do we think our petition has not been heard? How is our prayer heard, how is it “efficacious\u201d?<\/b><\/span> \u2014n. 2734<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Then, a further\u00a0question is asked, one that demands an examination of conscience:<\/p>\n

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…when we praise God or give him thanks for his benefits in general, we are not particularly concerned whether or not our prayer is acceptable to him. On the other hand, we demand to see the results of our petitions. What is the image of God that motivates our prayer: an instrument to be used? or the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ?<\/b><\/span> \u2014n. 2735<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Here, we are confronted with an inescapable mystery: God\u2019s ways are not our ways.<\/p>\n

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For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, my thoughts higher than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:9)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I remember when I was 35 years old, sitting at the bedside of my mother who was dying from cancer. This was a holy woman, an icon of love and wisdom in our family. But her death seemed anything but holy. She essentially suffocated in front of us in what seemed an eternity of minutes. The image of mom passing away like a fish out of water has been burned into our minds. Why did such a beautiful person die such a brutal death? Why did my sister die in a car\u00a0accident years before at the young age of twenty-two?<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think that question\u2014or any question on the mystery of suffering\u2014could be answered sufficiently unless God Himself suffered<\/i>. Indeed, there was nothing beautiful about Christ\u2019s death. Even His life was marked with trial after trial.<\/p>\n

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Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head. (Matt 8:20)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And yet, this Suffering Servant revealed the source of H\"\"is strength to us: He was in constant prayer with the Father,<\/i> and most markedly so when He felt that the Father had abandoned Him.<\/p>\n

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Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done. [ And to strengthen him an angel from heaven appeared to him.] (Luke 22:42-43)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Even then, hanging naked upon the Cross, He cried out: \u201cMy God, My God, why have you forsaken me?\u201d<\/i> Were Jesus to have ended His prayer there, perhaps we too would have reason to utterly despair. But Our Lord added one more cry:<\/p>\n

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Father, into your hands I commend my spirit. (Luke 23:46)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Here, Jesus Himself laid the last pavement stone of the Way<\/i> that we too are to take, faced as we are with the mystery of sin, evil, and suffering in this world. And that is the way of humility<\/i>. [1]<\/sup><\/a>cf. The Key to Opening God\u2019s Heart<\/i><\/a><\/span><\/span>