Somebody asked me if it was the Mariners that brought me home from my
travels. It wasn’t, but it’s been great being here and experiencing
Mariner mania. Of course, it would have been even greater had they
played on Wednesday and Thursday the way they played on Friday, but
that’s baseball!
I do have a reason for
being here other than baseball, however. Six weeks living out of a
suitcase is a lot. I decided I needed to regroup and reorganize before
beginning my sabbatical program in Rome. And there were some people on
the sick list I wanted to see. And, in all honesty, I was feeling just a
bit homesick!
I can’t tell you how
good it feels to be with you this morning, and I’m grateful to Father
Gary for inviting me to give the homily. I may be a little out of
practice in the homily department, but here goes!
Does the name Charles de
Foucauld ring a bell? I’m guessing not. Pope Francis canonized him three
years ago but de Foucauld’s early years certainly didn’t point in that
direction. He was born in Strasbourg, France, in the middle of the 19th
century and orphaned at the age of six. After a stormy adolescence, he
became something of an aristocratic playboy, and totally lost his faith.
He graduated from St. Cyr, the French West Point, but later was
dismissed from the French Saharan army for disciplinary problems,
including his refusal to remove a woman friend from his quarters. He
returned to France full of despair about life, but found himself
mysteriously drawn to the Church of St. Augustin in Paris where he would
sit for hours saying over and over again, "God, if you exist, show
yourself to me."
God
answered that prayer in the person of a wise priest who helped reconcile
him to his faith. He was eventually ordained a priest and returned to
the Sahara Desert – not to preach but to live as a hermit among the
native peoples and to give silent witness. He did draft a Rule for an
Order of Religious Brothers, but only one man joined him and he quickly
gave up, prompting de Foucauld to write in his Journal, "Pray for my
conversion, so that at least when I die I may bear fruit." In 1916 he
was shot dead by a band of desert raiders, and that was the end of
Charles de Foucauld.
Well,
not quite. In the early 1930s, some French seminarians came across his
writings and decided to band together in a small community they called
the Little Brothers of Jesus. Some years later, the Little Sisters of
Jesus were founded and today there are some 1500 religious brothers and
sisters working in some of the world’s great cities among the poorest of
the poor. All of them claim Charles de Foucauld as their founder. It
seems that prayer of his got answered after all....
Prayer. Persistent, persevering prayer. Prayer day in and day out.
Prayer in season and out of season. Prayer that is slow to get answered
but does get answered. That's what Charles de Foucauld's life was all
about. It's what today’s scripture readings are all about, too.
In the
first reading we saw Moses on the mountain top, the forces of Israel
down on the plain locked in mortal combat with their enemies, the
Amelekites, far superior in number. What a powerful image of persistent
prayer Moses gives us there, his hands outstretched in supplication to
the God of surprises who takes special delight in making winners out of
losers. In the reading Joshua mows down Amalek and his troops who were
fighting down on the plain, but the real battle that day was fought up
on the mountaintop by Moses, hands outstretched and uplifted in doggedly
persistent prayer, arms ready to fall off, but for the help of Aaron and
Hur.
The
gospel parable of the tenacious widow who wouldn't give up on the
corrupt judge sounded a similar theme. It helps to know that in biblical
times widows were the ultimate non-persons. That's because a woman's
value in that culture came from her relationship with her husband. If he
died, she lost her very identity and became a nobody. But the widow of
Jesus' parable was no shrinking violet. She pestered that judge
mercilessly, giving him not a moment's peace. She absolutely refused to
take no for an answer. And finally, she got what she was after. She got
justice.
Does
it seem strange that Jesus would encourage such a feisty approach to
prayer? Moses only raised his hands, after all; this woman raised her
fist! Jesus, it seems, wants our prayer to have some passion in it.
There’s a place for prayer that’s less pushy but that's not Moses’
prayer and it’s not the widow’s prayer. Their prayer is passionate,
passionate for justice.
Today’s gospel ends with a question that is meant to hit us between the
eyes. This question: "When the Son of Man comes will he find any faith
on the earth?" When I hear that question, I realize that the answer to
it lies with the likes of you and me.
The
answer lies with people of faith who don’t give up easily – who pray
‘thy will be done,’ yes, but who aren’t afraid to tell God what their
will is! God hears those prayers and answers them. Remember Charles de
Foucauld. Remember the widow.
…So, is it okay to
pray that the Mariners go to the World Series? I hope so, because I
certainly am. I may even keep my hands outstretched like Moses did!
Father Michael G. Ryan
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