Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, NY
Br. Bernard Delcourt, OHC
Proper 21 B - Sunday, September 26, 2021
In the name of God, the Lover, the Beloved and the Love everflowing.
I’ll focus on our passage from the epistle of James today. These are the last verses of the epistle. James concludes his letter by encouraging his readers to pray in all situations.
In this, he echoes the apostle Paul in his epistle to the Ephesians (6:18a): “Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication.”
James, the author of this morning’s epistle is thought to be James, the brother of Jesus. Did he learn about prayer from his Brother? Or did he learn more about prayer from his Brother’s disciples?
In any case, he was a major leader of the Jesus-following Jews of Jerusalem, a proto-Christian community. And he encouraged them to pray in all circumstances.
James is the one best known for writing in this same epistle (James 2:17): “faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.”
It would appear that James counts prayer as one of those good works he enjoins us to do to strengthen our faith.
The brother of Jesus tells us to pray whether we are up or down; whether we are suffering or cheerful. In both instances, it can be easy to be all involved in our feelings and forget to pray.
Do we remember to ask for fortitude, wisdom and healing when we suffer? Do we remember to say or sing “thank you, God!” when we have had happy moments.
When we are sick, do we stick to what the medical authorities prescribe? Or do we also ask fellow believers to pray for our healing? As the new Director of Associates, I notice I get those requests if I elicit them but rarely spontaneously. Why know a monk, if you don’t dare ask him to pray for you?
Do we dare to have some of our fellow believers visit us when we are not at our best? Do we invite them to bring us comfort and pray with us, over us?
How often do parish priests find out, after the fact, that a parishioner was hospitalized and did not want to bother her with a request for a pastoral visit?
She would probably have been glad to bring some chrism (a blessed mixture of oil and balsam) to anoint her sick parishioner in the name of the Lord.
James invites us to not let opportunities to pray or be prayed for pass us by.
“The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up” he writes. We hear a verse like that and don’t believe it because as modern folks, we are looking solely for the relief of the physical symptoms and the eradication of the physical cause of illness.
Those two healing outcomes are very good indeed. But healing is much more than that. It also involves the restoration of wholeness and belonging. And prayers are part of the pharmacy for that.
James also advises us to unburden ourselves of our sin by confessing it to other members of the community of faith and prayer. What he suggests here is mutual. I confess my sins to you and you confess yours to me.
And the important part is that we commit ourselves to pray for one another. And that is also where an important healing occurs.
We recognize that we are both sinners and righteous ones at the same time. None of us is perfect and we are all in need of mercy; each other’s mercy and God’s mercy.
James tells us the prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. That is true regardless of whether you get to observe the effects of your prayer or not. Sometimes, God gives us the grace of seeing how we have been an instrument of divine grace. But most often, God doesn’t bother. We need to trust in God’s grace regardless of measurable effects of our prayer. After all, this is not about us and our very own superpowers, is it?
So this coming week, see if you can remember to pray your life and pray the lives of your fellow creatures more often. Happy, sad, healthy, sick, culpable or innocent; those are all states that bear praying about.
Beloved Lord, help us to pray as you would have us pray.
Beloved Creator, help us to be instruments of your grace to all your creatures.
Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment