Fifth Sunday after Easter, May 5, 2013

Fifth Sunday after Easter, May 5, 2013

Epistle, James 1: 22-27        Gospel,  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 today sound like a wide open invitation, but they aren’t. St. Augustine cautions us about the meaning of this.  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 God to give him everything he needed for his salvation, and that's a good prayer for all of us to make every morning. Augustine also wrote that we ask God for things that are nothing when compared to what we should ask 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 or on the way there and we do not have to ask for anything else.

The Curé of Ars talks about those who say they are too busy to pray? It’s foolish to think you’re too busy because it’s so easy to pray constantly. What is our profit from this? When we pray constantly we are thinking more of God and His Kingdom and less of our own burdens in life, and so the cross we have to bear seems lighter. Prayer strengthens us to resist temptation and awakens in us a desire for repentance. Prayer makes us understand how much sin offends our Lord. In short, prayer makes us friends of God.

How can we pray constantly, and how is that so easy to do? All that is necessary is that through the day, when we are busy with all the things we do, from time to time we think of God. We can make an act of charity, praying for the recovery of someone who is ill, or we might be given the opportunity to go a little out of our way to help someone. We can remember during the day that even though we have sinned, God loves us and longs to make us happy. At other times we can think of Christ’s suffering and death on the cross. We can pray the Angelus, or pray to our Guardian Angel. All this is constant daily prayer and it will keep our minds on the thought that in a short time we will no longer be on this earth, and constant prayer will warn us not to remain in sin in case death surprises us and finds us unprepared for our judgment.

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 our joy will be full and there will be no more tears. 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 on Sunday, 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