Nagging God into submission

St. Josaphat

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

So, according to Jesus, the key to getting God to give us what we want is constant Nagging? He politely calls it “praying without ceasing,” but the parable he tells clearly indicates that God will relent to our demands only if we nag Him into submission. This sounds absurd – and it is – but it's the lesson too many take from the story of the Persistent Widow. So, why is this reading of the parable absurd? It presupposes that we can change God's mind. It presupposes that anything we can do or say has some effect on God's will. If I pray enough, fast enough, give enough money to the Church, God will say, “Fine! Have it your way!” and alter His plan for the universe. Now, we may not think about prayer in these exact terms, but I'm will to bet that many of us live as though prayer works exactly this way. We pray as though we do not have all that we need to flourish and pester God relentlessly to give us what we think we need. But here's the problem with that practice: we don't know what we need b/c we don't know what God has in store for us. Sure, we know generally that He has only good things planned for us, but are we capable of seeing those good things as good things? If not, then we can spend a lot of time asking for things that go against His will for us. Rather than ask for particular gifts, we should follow the Widow's example and persistently ask instead for the strength and courage to see God's will at work. Rather than ask for specific gifts, we should persistently pray to receive whatever it is that God has willed for us from all eternity. Rather than foolishly assume that we fully understand the arc of the divine will in history, we should cooperate with the Father's will and make ourselves into finely tuned receivers for all He sends our way. Jesus tells us not to pray like the pagans do. How did they pray? They treated their gods like super powerful humans who needed persuading with bribes of sacrifice and gold; promises of service; and magical rites. They made deals with the gods for favors. They tried to force the gods into doing their will. Our pray to the Father is nothing like this. Our pray is: Lord, I receive your will so that I may do your will. You have no need of my thanks, but You give me the desire to give you thanks and praise so that I may draw closer to You. Perfect in me what is imperfect. Finely tune the gifts I have received from You. Make me persistent.     

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Say it and be free

32^nd Week OT (M)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

Why is it so difficult to forgive someone who's sinned against me? Jesus plainly says that I should forgive. Even seven times in one day! That's a lot to ask. What if forgiving the sinner leads him to believe that his sin is really not a sin? Or that the sin didn't hurt me? What if he sees my forgiveness as a sign of weakness and decides to take advantage of me? Or he's encouraged to sin against someone else in the same way? I've forgiven him, but I don't feel like I've forgiven him. What if I'm still angry about the sin? What if I can't move on? What if. . .what if. . .what if. All day long. . .what if. Jesus says, “If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.” He says nothing about how we ought to feel about forgiving the sinner. He sins. You rebuke. He repents. You forgive. End of scene. Jesus says nothing about about how forgiveness might prevent future sins. Or how forgiveness might change the nature of sin. He says, “If he sins seven times in one day and repents seven times, then you should forgive him seven times.” All of the what if's change nothing about sin or forgiveness. For the sake of your peace and his, it must be done.

Now, the what if's don't go away simply b/c you've followed Jesus' orders. They hang around and needle you with worry. Of course they do! The Enemy isn't happy about all this forgiveness flying around willy-nilly. So, there's the temptation to brood over the sin; to wallow in the hurt the sin caused; to nurse the anger and a need for revenge; to question motives and suspect plots. Before you know it, you've sinned; the cycle starts all over. And the Enemy smiles. Here's how to wipe that smile off his face. You control nothing beyond how you choose to react to someone sinning against you. You cannot control how the sinner receives your forgiveness. You cannot control whether or not he sins again. The only thing you can do is determine how you will react to the sinner. Forgiveness frees you both. Why would you want to cling to his offense? Why would you choose to fall into disobedience along side him? The what if's and whatabout's are irrelevant. How you feel about forgiving him is irrelevant. How much the sin cost you is irrelevant. The most freeing sentence in the English language is: “I forgive you.” Say it and enjoy your freedom. 

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You CANNOT serve two Masters. . .

31^st Week OT (S)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP

St. Albert the Great, Irving

We cannot serve two Masters. Jesus doesn't say, “You may not serve two Masters.” He says, “You cannot serve two Masters.” Serving a Master is an exclusive gig. You serve, or you don't. If you are serving Jack and Jill, then you are actually serving neither. Jesus' point here is that you are serving God or you aren't. There is no in-between. Loyalty divided is no loyalty at all. This absolutist choice is imposed by the nature of the Enemy. Evil is the absence of the Good. Evil is nothing. And nothing is absolute. It's no-thing. As such, no compromise is tolerated. No accommodation with God is possible. The best we can say about evil is that when – in moments of weakness – we choose to serve evil, we're telling ourselves that we are doing Good. We're doing something that we think is Good. In that moment, we cannot serve God. So, we make a choice from the start, to serve God and Him alone. This means that we put on the mind of Christ, follow him, and stick as close as we can to one another in the Church. When we inevitably fall, we return as fast as possible to God's service, admitting our sin and receiving His mercy. What we don't do is assume that our mistaken view of the Good is the truly Good and demand that the other members of the Body accept our foolishness as true. At that point, we are serving the Enemy. If we consistently choose to see Evil as Good, we become servants of Folly. We become fools. For the sake of our eternal lives, it is far better to become fools for Christ and serve the Father as the Son served us. 

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