The Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time- A Word about the Word

A very famous Catholic Archbishop was once asked “what does a person do when they can’t pray anymore”? The wizened Archbishop thought for a moment and said “you pray even harder, cuz that’s when it’s really good”. What he meant was that when you pray when it is not easy to pray, or you mix those prayers with the very suffering you are going through, then this becomes an incredibly powerful prayer. Why? Because it is not easy to do and you are identifying with the sufferings of Christ and praying at the same time. None of us like to suffer, yet when we do, we can incorporate this pain with our prayers for others and the

result is an incredibly powerful offering to God. In today’s 1st reading from Exodus, we have the story of Moses holding up his hands during a battle. As long as he held his arms up, the Israelites would win. However, when his arms went down they would suffer loss. So Aaron and Hur hold his arms up for him and they win the victory. This story parallels prayer. If we pray every day, we will win the battles in our own lives against sin and despair. If we don’t pray, the enemy will creep in and soon we will suffer loss and fall away from the Faith. We need to stand together and lift up each other. In times of sorrow or pain, we need to hold one another and help each other. This is one reason why we come to Church, to “lift each other’s arms up” so the battles can be won. St. Paul tells Timothy to continue on and stand strong. Read Sacred Scripture and let the words of God penetrate your souls. We need to do this as well. Sacred Scripture, the Sacraments, the Mass, all of these are to help us on our journey to Heaven. In today’s Gospel, our Lord Jesus again tells us that persistence pays off. Keep on praying, even if you don’t see the results immediately, keep storming Heaven. So, this week if you are feeling a little dry spiritually or suffering in some way, or feel like giving up, then it is time to lift those arms, ask others to pray with you, and let your suffering be mixed with your prayers. Battles will be won, victory is at hand, and the time to stand strong is now if others are holding up your arms, that is what Church is all about…Something to think about…May God richly bless all of you…