THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for March 11th, 2014
Tuesday of the First Week of Lent
Liturgical texts here
DOES God hear every prayer? Of course He does. He sees and hears everything. But God doesn’t listen to all our prayers. Parents understand why…
There are many dynamics in a family, many personalities and responses to authority, structure, and basic family life. I think of my own children, the ones who readily obey and strive to serve, and then the others that need more attention, discipline, and maturity. When there is a child who strives to do their part, as a parent, you can’t help but want to bless this child. When they ask for privileges, you are more ready to give them. But with the child who is self-centered, less generous, and more rebellious, the parent is less inclined to grant privileges for a number of reasons. One could be that those privileges feed an already ungrateful or spoiled heart; or the privileges need to be withheld to challenge the child to more responsible behaviour; or the child needs to see, simply, that bad behavior is not rewarded.
While God the Father loves in ways far above and beyond our understanding, still, He is a parent who wants and knows what is best for His children.
…whom the Lord loves, he disciplines; he scourges every son he acknowledges. (Heb 12:6)
The fact is, we can and do “upset” the Father (though we might be tempted to project our own concept of anger on God). Salvation history is full of examples where the Lord is exasperated with the hard-heartedness of His people. In fact, a God who says nothing but “yes” and never “spanks” His children is neither believable nor logical. Sin, [1]cf. Jer 15:1; Ps 66:18 doubt, [2]cf. Jas 1:6 selfish ambition, [3]Jas 4:3 hard-heartedness, [4]Prov 29:9 wickedness, [5]cf. Prov 15:29 unkindness, [6]cf. 1 Pt 3:7 and violence, [7]cf. Isa 1:15 among other things, are obstacles to our prayers being heeded.
But God does listen to cry of the poor, especially the spiritually poor, the anawim.
When the poor one called out, the LORD heard, and from all his distress he saved him. (Today’s Psalm)
He listens to the one who listens to Him.
The LORD has eyes for the just, and ears for their cry. When the just cry out, the LORD hears them, and from all their distress he rescues them.
He listens always to a “humble and contrite heart”, [8]cf. Ps. 51:19 no matter how terrible his sin has been:
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.
And Jesus teaches us that it is appropriate to ask for “our daily bread”, and He would not tell us to do so unless God intended on providing it—that is, what we need, not necessarily what we want. The truth is that the Father “knows what you need before you ask him.” The question then is not whether He will hear, but listen. And when we live justly, when we are humble, repentant, and strive to do His will, there is nothing on earth that will stop Him from sending His blessings…. as any good father would want to do.
So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it. (First reading)
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