Sometimes it’s hard to understand the why of prayer. Moses once upon a time, “argued” with God, and he won! – Lord, these are your people (more than mine), be merciful, is what he said. But, there are those times, like the frightened child who hears the fight between his parents, and God does not seem to be there. Or, the many other times that tears burst out along with the
a painful groan that pleads, why?
Perhaps there are clues to be found. Moses and God had a relationship that allowed them to “argue” with each other. If Moses could do it, so can we. We too can argue with God. God is not a stranger, he is more intimately related to us than us to ourselves. In each intense situation, what ultimately comes to the forefront is precisely the fact that God has chosen to “become us”.
The tear and the groan come from the heart of God as well. There is no room for magic, superstition, or half-measures. There is one single reality, and together with God, we share in the experience.
Our prayer then, beyond the why, carries with it the sound of silence. The sound that whispers, I am God and there is no other. The silence that whispers, the night will pass. The sound that whispers, nothing can ever separate you from the love of God. The silence that whispers, be still and know that I am God, and there is no other.
In this silence that whispers, there is also a call to do our part. Witnesses to poverty, injustice, domestic violence, cancer, monkeypox, Proposition 1, the war in Ukraine, the worldwide ecological disaster, to … What is the part we are called to play? Not coming up with a solution, but simply doing our part.
In the end, prayer is risky. Moses won the “argument” and he could not back out of leading his/God’s people to the land of promise. Jesus had to pick up that parchment that said, “today in your hearing, this is fulfilled”, and ended up on the cross.
Fr. Rocendo and I participated in an interfaith prayer at the Salton Sea. Buddhists, Universalists, Lutherans, non-denominational folks, and us Catholics. Gathered to pray that the Salton Sea be healed. Some courageous souls did a prayer walk on their bare feet. Touching the harsh soil at almost the noon hour. To feel and “make God feel”. And we all felt that the Salton Sea is but a
symptom of humanity, and somehow, each of us has a part to play.
Fill us with peace, that we may live as brothers and sisters, harming no one. God of the poor, help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth.
Bring healing to our lives, that we may protect the world and not prey on it, that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.
We thank you for being with us each day. Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle for justice, love and peace.
Laudatio Si
Father Francisco Gómez, S.T.