I thank you for welcoming me into your parish these past three months. I will always have fond memories of my first assignment as a member of the clergy. I assure you of my continued prayers as I leave this parish and return to the seminary for my final year. I ask you to keep me in your prayers as I leave here and continue my preparation for the priesthood.
Today's Gospel gives us the perfect example of how we should pray. The Caanite woman is the perfect example of how we should tackle prayer with perseverance.
Last summer I worked as a chaplain at the University of Tennessee Medical Center. This job helped me to see the chain of different emotions that might appear in one's life. The joy of a new born child and the sorrow of the death of a loved one all are found within the walls of this place. I encountered one family there who were given the news that their loved one was going to die. It that situation it is hard to know what to say, but you must be present with them. I offered to pray, but the daughter wanted nothing to do with it. She had already turned to prayer and it got her no results. She was stuck in a state of hopelessness.
I am sure this Caanite woman also felt a bit of hopelessness when she came to Christ to offer her prayer for her daughter to Him. Christ heard the request and offered no response to her. This models our life of prayer because when we pray we hardly ever get the instant result that we desire. Despite it seeming like our prayers are not being answered we must continue to preserve in prayer and trust that the Heavely Father hears the prayers that we have to offer.
This woman did not lose hope, but called out all the more. She even turned towards the apostles and cried out to them. Again she was not given an answer, but this did not slow her down. Our Catholic faith holds great importance on the intercession of the saints. We trust that we can call out to them and ask them to give us strength. Just this past week we celebrated the lives of Saint Dominic on Monday, Saint Lawerence the deacon on Wednesday, and Saint Clare on Thursday. We asked them to hear our prayers and present them to God most high.
Despite receiving no answer this woman continued to humbly trust in Christ. She understood that God was the greatest of all beings. She understood that her prayer was important, but it also had to fit into the will of God. This is presented to us each time that we pray the "Our Father" when we get to the part where we say "thy will be done." When we pray we must trust in the will of the Father. Prayer is not an act of magic where you cast the perfect spell and get the results that you want to appear before you. Instead we must humbly come before the Father and join our prayers with Him allowing "thy will to be done." Our culture is obsessed with instant gratification, but we cannot allow the attitude to enter into our prayer lives. The Internet has helped to feed this attitude because we nolonger need to wait long enough to go to the store. With a click of the mouse we can instantly download a book in a matter of minutes. With prayer we must invest more time and persevere with it at all times.
Like the Caanite woman we must humbly come to the Father. At this Mass we will receive not mere bread and wine, but will receive the Body and Blood of Christ. Here our prayers come together and are joined as the are offered up to all the angels and the saints of Heaven. This is most beautifully shown to us when we chant "Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of power and might." With the upcoming English translatioof the Roman Missal we will begin to say "Holy, Holy, Holy Lord god of hosts." These hosts that we speak here are the angels who dwell over the altar of sacrifice and take our prayers and hand them over to the Father.
May we humbly presvere in prayer now and always. Allowing ourselves to trust fully the will of th Father. Being happy with the mere scraps which come from the table because even that will be enough to fill us if it comes from the Father. May we forever be given the grace necessary to continue to humbly persevere in prayer.
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