29th Sunday in Ordinary Time (October 16, 2016)

When I was a young child, I would always look forward to the Our Father at Mass. Similar to our custom at this parish, in the parish near Buffalo, NY where I grew up we would raise our hands to God, often joining hands together, and sing this great prayer to our Heavenly Father.

But week after week, I would find that my arms would grow tired towards the end of the prayer. The ending where we’d raise our hands – that was the hardest, because my little arms were not used to being held up in that position for so long. I needed more exercise as a child. I also needed more persistence in prayer, as Mass was one of the few times each week where I would intentionally pray.

In our first reading, we hear of Moses whose arms were held in a similar position of prayer. His arms are raised in blessing over the work that the Israelites are doing. His prayerful posture speaks to the prayers of his heart as he asks God to help them overcome their enemies in battle.

At first glance the battle that Moses and the Israelites were engaged in may seem very distant from our daily experience in Penfield. We are a non-violent people. But I think Moses’ example is instructive for us because we too are engaged in a battle. Our battle is waged not with earthly weapons or against earthly enemies, but is a spiritual battle, a battle for souls, a battle we’re all in, following Jesus Christ as the leader of the People of God, His Cross is our battle-flag.

Who is our enemy then, against whom do we fight in the spiritual battle of living our Catholic faith? Our primary enemy is actually ourselves, our tendency towards selfishness and sin, our very own will which is fixated on its own desires, and not on the greater and more beautiful things that God has for us as His elect, His beloved and chosen children.

But here’s the Good News: God has chosen us to fight and to win the battle of the Christian life, a battle we fight primarily through persistent prayer. Rather than live life on “auto-pilot,” and always go along with our instincts to do what we want, prayer opens us up to the wonderful realities of the Other. When we pray we remember God, His love for us, His plan for our greatness and our sainthood. We also begin to see others as beloved, chosen by God, too. Their needs become important, like ours, and we can work together to praise and glorify God.

This is a constant battle, a battle to remember that God is real, that God opens up the best way for us in all the many choices and experiences of our day. It is a daily battle to open up our hearts that are so easily closed and turned in on themselves. A battle that all of us are in, however successful or unsuccessful we feel may be at this present moment.  

But Moses’ example, like the example of the persistent widow in today’s Gospel, show us the way to win. As long as Moses remains persistent in prayer, the battle goes well. If he slacks in prayer, the enemy begins to win. Thankfully, Aaron and Hur support him in prayer, just as I hope that we support one another in our faith – families and friends who literally join hands in prayer at this Mass, or who pray together throughout the week and even multiple times each day.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, in 2610 and following reminds us that when we pray regularly, when it is part of our daily routine, then we can begin to pray with boldness, and with trust in God. We become convinced through our real experiences that God is in charge at all times. He knows what we need before we ask. He speedily answers the call of his elect for justice, for our needs, and the needs of the oppressed. If it seems like He delays, perhaps we are the ones who are not remaining constant in prayer. If it seems like He delays, maybe we’re not recognizing the gift that is the Holy Spirit poured into our hearts, allowing us to overcome any trial or difficulty that we may be experiencing.

When we do remain constant in prayer, wonderful things begin to happen. Our hearts and our lives are changed, in literally a miraculous way. And our prayer almost immediately begins to have effects in our world. By being persistent in prayer- praying on a regular basis and living our faith whether it is convenient or inconvenient and not growing weary -- we begin to act out of that prayerfulness, and become agents of God, men and women, children and people of all ages who serve the needs of others. We fight the battle of and for our lives, and we’re fighting alongside our brothers and sisters, the chosen people of God.

Our Gospel calls us the elect, elected by God as His beloved children to pray always. And excuse the play on words, but we, the elect, have a duty in this upcoming election. Please persistently pray how to vote, even if the election cycle is beginning to weary you. Pray and persist in informing your conscience – the U.S. Bishops' document Faithful Citizenship (http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/faithful-citizenship/upload/forming-consciences-for-faithful-citizenship.pdf), and there is more information in this week’s bulletin. This is an important issue, because we remain God's elect, the prayerful people of God before, during, and after we enter the polling place. And as we consider and judge for ourselves how to vote, remember that we don't want to be like the unjust judge at the start of the Gospel story and think only of ourselves and our interests. May we go beyond our own desires, and also consider God's justice, that it be done speedily on earth. God always remembers -- and so should we – the rights of the poor, widows, orphans, migrants, elderly, the right for no one to be treated as an object of another’s desire, and most especially the right to life for all babies still in the womb and the real needs of parents experiencing difficult pregnancies. Prayer, persistent prayer that does not grow weary will be our irreplaceable guide as may we consider the many issues of our nation and local governments, ever informing our consciences as faithful Catholics. This is part of the battle we fight as God’s elect.

Prayer also sets us free to act in God’s ways, to act in new and wonderful ways for God’s glory, to act in new and beautiful ways to serve the needs of our parish, for the needs of our world. Persistent in prayer helps us be not only good soldiers for Christ, but good stewards for Christ.

This is the second weekend of our Stewardship Commitment cycle here at St. Joseph’s. Just as we cannot win the battle of our Catholic Christian faith unless we keep praying, we cannot be true to our calling as God’s elect, God’s chosen people, unless loving actions spring from our prayer for the good of our parish and the good of the world around us.

We are all busy people; many of us are already actively seeking to be good stewards of our parish as we live our Catholic faith. But I hope that you will pray, and even pray with persistence without growing weary, and listen to how God is calling you to be even more involved in the life of St. Joseph’s parish over the next year. To be a good steward is like being a good soldier, to actively engage in the good work or charitable gift that God has placed upon our hearts. But we only begin to listen to God, we only get up “off the couch” of our spiritual lives when we persistently pray, knowing that God will speedily answer our prayer, speedily open up our hearts, and sustain us with all we need, and all the graces we need to be good stewards in our parish.