The Power of Prayer

In today's first reading,  Esther C: 12, 14,-16, 23-25,  Queen Esther, an orphaned Jew, feels obligated to intervene for her fellow Israelites, whom her husband, the King, has given orders to be put to death.  Seized with incredible fear, Esther, with her handmaidens, prostrate themselves in prayer day and night begging for help.  Esther begs for the courage to approach the King, praying: "Put in my mouth persuasive words in the presence of the lion and turn  his heart to hatred for our enemy, so that he and those who are in league with him may perish. Save us from the hand of our enemies; turn our mourning into gladness and our sorrows into wholeness." And God grants her request and the Israelites are spared execution. Obviously, without God's intervention and help, Queen Esther, in no way, would have had the courage to approach her husband. He was bent on getting rid of all the Israelites who dwelt in his land.  On the other hand, her faith in Yahweh was solid.  She was convinced that God would give her the courage she needed to stand up to the King. And He did not disappoint her.

Queen Esther reminds me of King David, who has a little boy, possibly an adolescent, approached Goliath with the same faith. We see this same faith lived out by Jesus, a human being like us in all things but sin.  When faced with incredible evil, he did not flinch. He confronted demons, raised the dead to life, cast out diseases of all kinds, including leprosy, and challenged the Pharisees and scribes who plotted to kill him. Evil forces did not stop Jesus from carrying out the mission God had given Him, as was so evident when He told His apostles that He was going up to Jerusalem, where He knew He would be put to death.  Jesus did not hide from life's difficulties, not even death. He showed us that the powers of evil do not have the last say. He triumphed over death and all other evils that plagued Him during His active ministry.

Lord, we need the courage of Queen Esther, King David and You Yourself, so as to confront evil in our day.  How many times do I not cower in fear and do nothing.  How often do I not pretend that the evil is not happening around me or, worse, join others in doing what is absolutely wrong and against Your holy will.  Have mercy, Lord!  Please give me the courage that you gave Queen Esther to do what I know you are calling me to do for the welfare of others.

Shown the Salvation of God

In today's responsorial psalm, Palm 50, we read: "[T]o him/[her who] goes the right way I will show the salvation of God."  That is God's promise to us.

We may be very concerned about those who  do not choose the right path but instead choose evil over good, deceit over truth, unjust practises over justice, and even betray others, including one's country, for the fleeting, short-term goal of self-aggrandizement, looking popular, and/or being acclaimed as powerful and strong by a "mighty"few.  

We need to do more than simply voicing our concern over evil in the world of our day. If we only voice our concern and do not take action, good remains undone. Words only point to the good.  They do not do the good.  With Jesus, we must act on behalf of truth, of justice, of freedom. We live at a time when morality,  truth and authentic freedom are scorned by the majority.  Many men and women of integrity, it seems, cowl in fear of the repercussions of being honest. They seem to be working to save their lives instead of losing them for the sake of the Gospel. Hence evil continues to gallop across our country as we hide behind our fears! "God save us," we cry.  And God says to us through today's psalmist: "Though  you pray more, I will not listen....Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes; cease doing evil; learn to do good. Make justice your aim: redress the wronged, hear the orphan's plea, defend the widow."  And  I would add: Stand up to those doing evil: to those acting unjustly toward immigrants, barring"Dreamers" from citizenship, sending asylum seekers back to dangerous situations; denying the truth, putting children in cages and spreading messages of hatred and prejudices toward other races and religions.

If we defend what is right and condemn what is wrong, as Jesus did in his own day,  we will meet opposition as Jesus did.  Jesus tells us plainly in today's Gospel: "I have come not to bring peace but the sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one's enemies will be those of his household."  Jesus then adds: "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me, is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."   By taking up the crosses that come with standing up for the truth and doing what is right, we will be shown "the salvation of God."

Jonah's Dilemma and Ours

In today's first reading, Jonah 3: 1-10, Jonah is asked a second time--he refused the first time--to confront evil and to enter the city of Nineveh announcing that the city would be destroyed in 40 days.  Jonah was afraid of being mocked, ridiculed, made fun of should the people heed God's warning, repent and that, then, God would withdraw his threat to destroy them and, instead show them His mercy. 

There will be times when you and I will be asked, as Christians, to risk being ridiculed or mocked for taking a stance that is, to say the least, unpopular.   The Spirit may ask us to confront an evil or walk away from an evil that our friends want us to engage in or in which we want to take part so as not to stand apart or not to be mocked.  We will as disciples of the Lord find ourselves tempted to go against our conscience so that we will not look like fools for Christ's sake.   God says to us in Dt. 30: 15-20: I am offering you life or death, blessing or curse. Choose life, then, so that you...may live" and experience the fullness of life that Jesus promise. The choice is ours! Jesus shows us the way!

Needed: God's Healing of a Legislative Arm

Today is a Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children.  As in the first reading of today’s liturgy,  1 Samuel 17: 32-33, 37, 40-51, where David confronts Goliath, a Philistine who’s been a warrior since his youth and David a mere  youthful shepherd’s boy with a sling, so, too, we are faced with this monster legislative action that proclaims that parents have a right to kill their unborn child for any reason.  David approached the Philistine, saying  “You come against me with sword and spear and scimitar (a sword with a curved blade), but I come against you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel that you have insulted.”  Promoters of abortion come against us with piercing words and curved rhetoric but, I believe, we can win this fight because, like David, we have God on our sides, the Creator of these children.

In today’s Gospel, Mark 3: 1-6, Jesus, during a worship service on a Sabbath,  asked the man with the withered arm to come up to the front of the synagogue. He then asked the Pharisees: “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” He then ordered the man to stretch out his hand. He was healed. That day, as on many others, Jesus challenged the Pharisees’ arrogance, shortsightedness and rigid application of their laws. Right now in the United States of America,   a rigid law  exists that  permits parents to destroy their child in the womb.  Jesus asks us to stretch forth this withered legislative arm. He will heal it, lives will be saved, not destroyed, and infanticide (infant homicide) will cease.  Let us today, also, stretch forth our arms in prayer, never giving up until this evil act of legalization is reversed. It is our duty as Christians to persist in the same way as we persisted in praying for the conversion of Russia and witnessed that miracle many years ago. Through the power of intercessory prayer, we will also  witness the miracle of the reversal of laws that legalize the murder of the unborn.  Let us never give up the fight!

Mary, Mother of Sorrows

Mary, I believes weeps with us today as we ponder the recent murder of Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old who, in a gated community in Florida, recently who had gone out to purchase skittles and a tea and was killed a short distance from the family he was visiting.  There is an outrage throughout the U.S. and beyond, an outrage as deep as when Casey Anthony was acquitted of the death of her two-year-old-child Kaylee.  Rightly so, in both cases, according to my opinion.  Thousands of innocent people, everyday, throughout the world are victims of violence, as was Mary's Son Jesus, the Incarnate Word of God.  Are we coming to a point in our society and the world of seeing the power of Justice meet injustice, God meeting man in the darkest moments of our existence through those of us willing to stand up to evil in our own lives and in the lives around us.  Are we approaching a point where we will no longer stand by and allow a Trayvon Martin or a Kaylee Anthony's death be in vain, anymore than Jesus' death was in vain.  Is God creating a new earth and a new heaven right before our eyes, raising us up to new heights of confronting the evils of this world, bringing the darkness into the Light for all to see?  Is each of us moving toward a place where we will no longer tolerate injustices without standing up for the Truth, confronting wrongdoing, as Jesus did in His day and in His society?