The Prayers of the Righteous

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

    In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  General George Patton found himself in Lorraine, France, in December, 1944.  The weather was rotten.  He wrote to his wife, Beatrice: “There is about four inches of liquid mud over everything and it rains all the time, but not steadily.”  So Patton called up the Chaplain of the Third Army, Fr. James H. O’Neill, and had him compose a prayer for good weather, that Patton ordered be said  by every soldier in the Third Army.  By 14 December, all 250,000 copies of the prayer had been received.  on 23 December the weather broke, and Patton was again able to move his army, and ended up rescuing the 101st Airborne from their encircled siege during the Battle of the Bulge (though, they never have admitted that they needed rescuing).  Fr. James O’Neill was awarded the Bronze Star by General Patton for his prayer.
    St. Peter said that “the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears turned to their prayer.”  If you were an allied army in December 1944, you would certainly say that God heard your prayers, and, because the cause was just, the prayer was answered as General Patton wanted.  Or think about the successor of St. Peter, Pope St. Pius V, who invited Europe to pray the Rosary for the Christian Fleet at Lepanto, and, despite odds against them, they won.  Certainly, we still attribute that victory to prayer, as we celebrate on the day of victory Our Lady, Queen of Victory.  
    There’s also a football story about Lou Holtz and the coach of Boston College during one of their matches.  The coach of Boston College was speaking to Lou before the game, and said, “Well, Lou, I guess we know that, since we’re both Catholic schools, God doesn’t care who wins.”  Lou quipped back, “But His mother does.”  And how about those times when a person prayers for victory, and the team loses.  I remember being at Ford Field, at the time I was Parochial Vicar for St. Thomas Aquinas in East Lansing.  I had traveled with Lansing Catholic’s football team for a rematch against Powers Catholic of epic proportions.  There was a lot of praying on both sides that game.  I was “working the beads” every second for a Lansing Catholic victory.  But yet, at the time to my dismay, Powers Catholic won.  
    While that may seem small, think about the prayers that ascended to God for the Catholic knights fighting to hold on to Jerusalem as the Muslims fought as hard to take it back.  Was keeping Jerusalem safe for Catholics and the true faith not a righteous cause?  Can it simply be attributed to a lack of holiness on the part of those praying?
    Certainly the prayers of the righteous have more effect.  But, perhaps that is because their wills are more in-tune with God’s will, and they know how to pray that God’s will be done.  Think about the missionaries who have asked God for miracles for the conversion of others, and have received miracles.  Or when St. Dominic prayed for bread when his house of young friars had run out of bread, and God miraculously provided bread for them so that they could preach with strength and vigor.  While I was praying hard for Lansing Catholic, I certainly knew, in my mind, that God’s will might be that Lansing Catholic lose, and my first concern was that no one would get seriously injured (and those prayers were answered).  Still, I was hoping that Mary’s intercession would have an effect on us getting the win for which we looked.
    But it’s not quite as simple as: if your prayers get answered, you and/or your cause was righteous; if not, then not.  We seek always to have the mind of God, but we do not always have it.  God’s ways are mysterious because they occur according to His plan and His timing, not ours.  If a sinner calls upon God, and the answer to those prayers are in accord with God’s will, those prayers may get answered exactly as the sinner wants.  If a saint calls upon God, and the answer to those prayers are not in accord with God’s will, those prayers will be answered in a way that a bystander might think was a sign of divine displeasure.      So how should we pray?  Do we stop praying for the small things, like football victories, or nice weather for an outdoor wedding reception?  Do we only pray if we are in a state of grace?  Do we treat the answer we get as a sign of God’s pleasure of displeasure with us?  The secret lies in the prayer our Savior taught us to pray: Thy will be done.  We pray that whatever occurs be that which gives God greatest glory and gives us the greatest holiness, whether it seems like a yes or a no to us.  We pray with great fervor and persistence, as our Lord encourages us in the Gospels, but we leave it up to Him to see if the positive answer to our prayers would help advance His Kingdom more.
    And that also means that we pray for good things, not bad.  Praying in accord with God’s will cannot include harm coming to another.  There was a short-lived custom in Spain in the first millennium (short-lived because it was condemned by local councils) to pray for the death of one’s enemies.  You would pay the priest to offer a requiem Mass for someone who was alive, and hope God would get the hint.  To be clear: that’s not a good way to pray.  While there are examples from the scriptures and the lives of the saints of curses being laid upon other (think of St. Peter condemning Ananias and Sapphira for holding back from what they were supposed to give God), those are rare, and are from those who are especially in tune with the mind of God.  Unless we are at that point, our prayer should be for good, as the Lord commands us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.  
    And, in the end, prayer is an act of trust.  We entrust our petitions to a loving Father, who would never give us a stone if we asked for an egg, and know that whatever He gives us is an act of love and for our benefit, in some way.  So whether we are a chaplain of the Third Army, or a young child praying for a particular present for a birthday, may we seek to be righteous, to know God’s will, and then entrust ourselves and our prayers to the one who loves us and gives us every good gift that we need: God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Praying to Win?

Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

    There is a story I heard once (and as the Irish say, don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story), that a Boston College coach approached Lou Holtz before a game and said, “Well, Lou, since we’re both Catholic Schools, at least we know that God doesn’t care who wins,” to which Lou Holtz responded, “But His Mother does.” 
    And this first reading is probably the perfect reading as we welcome back our Powers Catholic Varsity Soccer team to St. Pius X, after they became District Champions by beating Unionville-Sebewaing, and as they prepare for the Regional games.  I can just see Brent Zloto and Luke Mattar holding up my arms during the entire game!!  That’s definitely one reading of the passage from Exodus: as long as we do the right thing, or have the right spiritual leader  praying for us on the sidelines (holding hands up is the posture of prayer), then we’re going to win every game!  Granted, so far, it has worked that way for Districts.  But I can also remember a couple of games where I was cheering you on from the sidelines, and maybe the end result wasn’t exactly as we wanted. 
    So what’s the deal?!?  Jesus tells us to pray in our Gospel, and we have this example from the Book of Exodus of the power of prayer of the Israelites demolishing Amalek and his army when Moses prayed for them.  Shouldn’t this mean that if we just pray hard enough, then we’ll get what we want?
    I think we all know, deep in our hearts, that God doesn’t work this way.  We may think that if we pray, we will change God’s mind or alter His plan, but then if we think about it, and we think about all the bad things that happen around the world, does that mean that those people weren’t praying enough, or in the right way?
    In fact, prayer does not change God, but it does change us.  And prayer is very different from superstition.  Superstition is trying to use supernatural stuff to get our way, and as Catholics it’s easy to fall into superstition.  But superstition is forbidden by the first commandment, that tells us to not have any gods besides the one, true God.  And superstition is where we try to make ourselves God and determine nature according to our will.
    Prayer, on the other hand, yes, asks God to do something particular, but comes from the advantage that we do not always know what should happen.  In fact, we rarely know what is best even for ourselves.  Prayer always asks God to do what is best for us, which He does, as St. Paul says: all things work for the good of those who love God.  Prayer does not so much change God’s heart, as it does open our hearts up to the wider possibilities of good that God desires for us.
    So why does Jesus tell us to “pray always without becoming weary”?  Because sometimes we don’t know what is best for us, and often we need to continue to ask God in order to know God’s will for us.  Prayer is also an act of faith, and our persistence in prayer is a demonstration of our faith.  Look again at the Gospels: Jesus never heals anyone without their faith in Him.  And in some cities, it even says that Jesus did not work many miracles because of their lack of faith.  When we keep praying, as you are today, Chargers, it is a demonstration of your faith in God who wants what is best for you.  It is a way of saying, “God, I know that you love me and you want what is best for me, and I entrust my desires into your hands.” 
    So, do I pray for our sports teams in general, and right now for our varsity soccer team?  You bet I do!  I pray that you use your gifts and talents that God gave you; I pray for your health and safety; I pray that how you play glorifies God and honors Powers Catholic High School; and yes, I pray that we win.  Is that God’s will?  I hope so, but I entrust it to Him.  And I know that whatever God has planned for each of you will make your life the best that it can be, full of joy, peace, and love, even if that comes, as it always does, with challenges, frustration, sacrifice, and pain. 
    St. Paul advises St. Timothy and us today, to “be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient.”  To all of us, and especially our Powers Catholic Varsity Soccer team, with whom I am honored, truly honored, to stand on the sidelines with you and pray for you, have faith in God’s will for you.  Pray with faith that God will give you every good gift that you need.  Practice and pray with that confidence in the love and wisdom of God.