Upholding in Prayer

Twenty Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C

Have you seen the banner on our parish Facebook page? It has the three of us priests extending our hands in a gesture which suggests one of several things: a sign of welcome, a position of prayer or perhaps a moment of collective narcissism, “hey! It’s us!” The other day, I made a request to our social communications team to have it taken down and replaced with the stain glass triptych of the Holy Family that you see behind me. Seeing ourselves displayed on the page does give off a certain bad odour of shameless self-aggrandisement. Last I checked, the banner is still up but with a difference - my face (in the centre) had been blotted out by the profile picture featuring our parish logo while my two confreres were spared. It does help when I’m the shortest among the three.

Today, we see a similar scene in the first reading - three persons standing side by side. As Joshua battles the Amalekites in the valley of Rephidim, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill with Moses. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites would prevail, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites surged and had the upper hand. When Moses’ hands grew tired, Aaron and Hur took a stone and put it under Moses and he sat on it and then Aaron and Hur held up Moses’ hands so Israel would prevail.

This poignant scene speaks volumes to me in a way that I have never realised before. I see myself, the weakest among the three being held up and supported by my two brother priests. Like Moses, I am charged with the responsibility to maintain a posture that should inspire confidence and lend strength to others, and yet I often seek to hide my weaknesses, my weariness in the same moment.

It sometimes feels like the weight of the world is pressing down on my arms raised in surrender and prayer. Often, I feel too tired to press on, even too tired to pray and the temptation to throw in the towel is simply too strong to overcome. That is until I realise how God sustains me through companions and collaborators. Fr Philip and Fr Bona are my Aaron and Hur, who walk together with me especially when my feet and hands have grown weary from walking and working. They recognise my needs and provide me with the support without being asked. Then, there are the leaders of this parish. They are the front liners, like Joshua in the battlefield, who have to face the many issues of family and community life in the first instance while I remain secure and safe on my proverbial hill, providing spiritual support and holding them up in prayer.

I started with this tale in the first reading because the story we find in the gospel is to be read with the story of Moses raising his hands. Both readings remind me that the one thing that can sustain me, that has sustained me, and I can be certain will continue to sustain me, is prayer. It is God’s invisible hands who actually hold up our fatigue laden hands and feet and continue to sustain us. Several important lessons emerge from these readings:

Let’s begin with the obvious, we need each other even though we may each be tasked with different responsibilities, just as Joshua who did the fighting needed Moses who did the praying who needed Aaron and Hur who did the supporting. During the process which began last year, our Holy Father has been reminding us that Synodality is the way we have to be Church - it is a recognition that no one is self-sufficient, no one can determine his one fate without reference to others, that we are in need of God and each other. Some battle on the frontlines by engaging with the necessary work of ministry, while others do battle in prayer giving support like Moses.

Secondly, our mission and our work are necessarily connected to prayer. Prayer is the heartbeat, the life blood and the breath of our apostolate work and mission. Without prayer, the Church’s mission cannot succeed, her battle with evil cannot be victorious. If the Church, and every single one of her members is to avoid being routed in the daily battles of life, all of us must pray, we must uphold each other in prayer, we must persist in prayer, storm heaven for assistance and grace, instead of just being lost in busyness and activism or drowning in despair.

Thirdly, we are in this for the long haul and we should be ready to persevere. Perseverance is needed not so much to change the mind of God. God already knows what we need long before we make our requests. So, why do we need to pray and pray unceasingly? Prayer isn’t about persuading God to do what we want; it is about inviting God to mould us in faith into what He wants for us. If the answers to our prayers came easily and quickly, where would the challenge be? Prayer is not meant to change the mind of God; it should change us. By persevering in prayer, our faith is nourished and deepened, our will is subverted so that we may conform ourselves more closely and intimately to the will of God. Persistent and consistent prayer teaches us fidelity and how to be faithful friends of God, and not just fair weathered ones.

Fourthly, the One whom we must turn to who will ultimately sustain us even when all our own personal resources seem drained and exhausted, is the One who also stretched out His hands on the cross. St Justin Martyr saw Moses’ prayer with arms extended as a prefiguration of our Lord on the cross. Unlike Moses who needed the assistance of Aaron and Hur to support his hands, our Lord’s hands are held up by His undying love, by His complete willingness to accept the suffering and humiliation of the cross. In Orthodox icons of the crucifixion, the Lord’s hands are stretched out on the cross lifted heavenward in prayer but the nails which pierce His hands are invisible. The icon wishes to depict that the Lord is crucified on His own volition and that He is being held up by His own power rather than by the power of His executors. It is love which nails Him to the cross and it is through love by which He intercedes for us. As long as the Lord continues to uphold us in battle, we will prevail.

The final picture painted by this story is a profound truth of God. Our Lord, lifted up upon the hill, is the One who gives us the strength to stand strong and fight with a courage beyond comprehension. Our Lord remains steadfast and unwavering but the real question is, “when the Son of Man comes, will He find any faith on earth?” He will never give up on us. Let us not give up on Him.