Finding Grace in a Timely Manner

In today’s first reading, Hebrews 4: 12-18, St. Paul encourages us to “confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.” Faced with devastating losses, however,  such as those resulting from natural disasters, terminal illnesses, or chronic diseases (alcoholism, drug addiction or any other kind of addiction, including the addiction to experiencing the adrenalin rush of being violent), we may conclude that it does not pay to prayer. After all, our prayers seem to go unanswered.  In our pain, we may  cry out in anger: “What’s the use. God doesn’t answer our prayers anyway. I’ve lost everything when the tornado struck , when hurricane-force winds struck our village.” Or “My loved one still died.” Or “Why pray? The abuse continues. My loved one refuses to go for help.” Yet St. Paul says: “[C]onfidently approach the throne of grace.”  

The help we receive in prayer, our own or that of others, might be intangible, elusive.  We may find the strength to endure, the wisdom to help a neighbor, the courage to share our pain with a caring, non-judgmental  friend, healthcare provider or a compassionate clergy person.  Prayer empowers us so that  we don’t get stuck in self-pity or in anger. Instead of becoming  ranting, raving critics of the events of our lives, we become active doers,  looking for possibilities to make a difference in the midst of disappointing circumstances. Prayer empowers us to bring significant changes in our attitudes and behaviors, whereby, as we pray in the Serenity Prayer,  we “accept the things we cannot change, change the things we can [ourselves and no one else] and the wisdom to know the difference.”