5th Sunday after Easter, May 13, 2012

Fifth Sunday after Easter, May 13, 2012

(John 16: 23:30)

“Amen, amen, I say to you: if you ask the Father anything in my name, he will give it to you.” St. Basil says there are two methods of prayer. The first, and highest, is to give praise to God. The second, and lower, is the prayer of petition, where we ask God for what we want. Basil urges us to leave everything behind and begin with the praise and glory of Him Who made all things.

St. Basil’s prayer: O, Lord, patient and forbearing, I praise Thee because Thou hast spared me who offend Thee daily, giving to all of us a season for repentance; and because of this Thou art silent and patient with us, O Lord, that we may offer glory and praise to Thee Who has the care for the salvation of all of us. You help us, sometimes by fear, sometimes by counsel, sometimes through the prophets, and last of all through the coming of Thy Anointed One: “For thou has made us, and not we ourselves.” (Psalm 99: 3)

Christ’s words again: “Amen, amen, I say to you: if you ask the Father anything in my name, he will give it to you.” That sounds like a wide open invitation, but it isn’t. St. Augustine cautions us about the meaning of this invitation.  Note that Jesus says “ask anything in my name.” We cannot ask for anything in His name that works against our salvation. I think this is why St. Francis of Assisi prayed for whatever he needed for his salvation, and that's a good short prayer for us every morning. Augustine also wrote regarding this, that we have asked God for things that are nothing when compared to what we should have asked for. So Christ says, “Hitherto you have not asked anything in my name.” And following this, “Ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full.” And that is what St. Augustine says we should ask for in Christ’s name, that our joy may be full. If our joy is full it means we have overcome the world as Christ has, and we are in heaven and do not have to ask for anything else.

It is difficult for us to give up our sense of control over people and events, but we can and should do just that. This can't be done in one day, but we can practice letting go all through our lives, and we can practice trusting in God in small steps. It’s like practicing the attributes of sainthood, prayer and good works. That will bring us to heaven. We can practice letting go of control by understanding that the things we ask for that are necessary for salvation will be given to us in God's good time, not in our time. We cannot pray: “God give me patience, and give it to me right now!” Instead, we practice trusting in the promise of our Lord that whatever we do need will be given to us in God's time.

St. Paul did not receive what he prayed for, although he did receive what he needed for salvation. In 2 Cor. 12: 8, 9 Paul writes, “Lest the greatness of the revelations should exalt me, there was given me a sting of my flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet me.” Three times Paul asked to be relieved of temptation, but he was told by the Lord, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for power is made perfect in infirmity.” And so Paul tells us, “Gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me.” So along with St. Paul, we also can expect to be tempted to commit sin all through our lives, but also along with Paul, we can trust that God's grace will be sufficient to keep us from sinning.

Another example from today's Gospel reading is that we may pray in Christ's name for the conversion of someone in particular, but what if they do not convert and eventually die outside the true faith. What then of our Lord's promise: “If you ask the Father anything in my name, he will give it to you”? Note that Jesus says, “He will give it to you.” If the Father does not give the grace of conversion to those you are praying for, He will give to you the reward of your charitable act of praying for them. Also, we simply do not know if that person dies unrepentant, and we do not know the extent of God’s mercy toward anyone.

When Jesus said, “Amen, amen, I say to you: if you ask the Father anything in my name, he will give it to you,” we are hearing a promise of our salvation. It is not to give us the power to determine who will be given grace and who will not. We’re not given the gift of faith to exalt us, to make us important as St. Paul said, “Lest the greatness of the revelation should exalt me.” We are given faith to help us find our way to God's Kingdom. The path to His Kingdom is found through practice of the virtues: Faith, Hope, Charity, Prudence, Justice, Temperance, Fortitude and all those character traits that flow from these. When we see these traits in someone, we call that person “good.”

In the opposite direction: the path to the kingdom of Satan is found through practice of the vices, which are the opposite of the virtues. First listed formally by Pope Gregory the Great and later enumerated by Thomas Aquinas, they are: vainglory (pride), avarice (greed), gluttony, lust, sloth, envy, anger. When we see a person living a life of vice, we call that person “bad”, and we pray for him.

No one in life has complete joy because the joys of this life are always mixed with sadness. So when Jesus says, “Ask, that your joy may be full,” He is talking about heaven where there will be no more tears and where our joy will be full. To ask for this kind of joy does not mean only begging through our prayers to receive it, but also living a worthy life so we can grab hold of it when we die. It won’t work to seek heaven by praying well, but continuing to lead a wicked life filled with sin. We can pity those who hurry to church in order to receive something, and give no thought either to the Word of God or to their own sins. They do not sorrow at their sins, nor do they fear final judgment, but smiling and shaking hands all around they turn God’s House into a place of endless gossip ignoring the words of King David: “In his temple all shall speak his glory.” (Psalm 28: 9, KJV 29:9) +++

We Celebrate the Traditional Tridentine Latin Mass