May 28, 2010
Friday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
By Melanie Rigney
The end of all things is at hand. Therefore be serious and sober-minded so that you will be able to pray. Above all, let your love for one another be intense, because love covers a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:7-8)
He shall rule the world with justice and the peoples with his constancy. (Psalms 96:13)
(After the apostles marveled that the fig tree Jesus cursed had withered, Jesus said,) “Have faith in God. Amen, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it shall be done for him. Therefore I tell you, all that you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it and it shall be yours. When you stand to pray, forgive anyone against whom you have a grievance, so that your heavenly Father may in turn forgive you your transgressions.” (John 21:17-19)
Piety
Lord, open my ears to Your answer to my prayers. Open my mind to believing that with You, anything is possible.
Study
Do you ever wonder if you, like that ill-fated fig tree, are going to be cursed into oblivion by Christ? After all, the tree had done nothing wrong. It just didn’t happen to be the time of year for figs.
I recently struggled with temptation. I’d prayed about it and felt sad but reconciled, only to have the situation arise again the next day. I felt a little like that fig tree, cursed for nothing I’d done. Why was God letting this happen? I reached out for help via e-mail to a couple of the best prayer warriors I know. One wrote back almost immediately, in part: “Deliver her from temptation and replace it with faith and joy. Remind her that it's no sin to be tempted. Even Jesus was.”
That prayer made me think a couple of things. First, I felt relief and gratitude for the reminder that being tempted in and of itself wouldn’t put me out of God’s grace. Second, I felt convicted. My prayer hadn’t been that my struggle be, as today’s Gospel reading says, “lifted up and thrown into the sea.” No, it had included a lot of wishful thinking and wishwashiness.
It’s an important lesson Jesus shares today, to believe we will receive what we ask for in prayer—forgiveness, strength, peace, confidence, willpower. It doesn’t matter whether we deserve an answer. As today’s first reading notes, love covers a multitude of sins.
Action
In your prayers today, focus on asking for help—and believing you will receive it.
