LET MY CRY COME UNTO THEE
All that remains of the original Temple in Jerusalem is a part of the western wall known as the “Wailing Wall”. Here Jews have come for centuries to pray as they stand before the hallowed stones. A rabbi who had prayed there every single day of his life for fifty years was being interviewed by a journalist. “Rabbi, what do you pray for every day?” “I pray for peace!” “Well, what does it feel like praying in such a historic place?” “What does it feel like? It feels like I’m talking to a wall!”
Do our prayers really make a difference? I’ve been looking through the prayer request book which we keep in the Calvary Chapel. On its blank pages people can write down the prayers they wish to offer to God or to share with others. It’s very humbling – and inspiring – to see some of the things which were on people’s minds during the year: prayers for health are frequent, as are prayers for help at work and for blessings at home. Some prayers are addressed to Jesus, “Help me Lord Jesus to be a good person”, and others invite us to pray alongside the petitioner: “Please remember in your prayers my son who needs so much support just now.” Some of the requests are written in broken English or in a foreign language. There are many prayers for peace. These came abundantly during the Israeli occupation of Lebanon. Do our prayers make a difference – or are we talking to a wall?
The Bible assures us that God is involved fully in our lives. That so far from “watching us from a distance”, he is truly a part of us and of our lives and we are a part of His life too. Nothing so distinguishes our Christian and “incarnational” faith as this: that God loves us personally and individually, that
He has saved us in Christ, and that together in co-operation with God we work out our lives and our salvation. Our prayer is not a sudden interruption into the silence of a distant relationship, but part of that relationship day by day. God is not “listening” to our prayer – He is in the prayer, He is the prayer! Of course, we speak of our “cry” coming to Him and we ask Him to “graciously hear us”, but the prayer which we make is already a part of our life with God and cannot just be an added feature. As Christians we pray “in the name of Jesus”. This means we can pray as He prayed in the garden of Gethsemane: “Let this cup pass! Nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done”. The will of God is his loving design for us, not some ineluctable fate. We are in a relationship of absolute trust. Moreover, when we pray, we must be a part of the prayer too. That is, we should never pray for something we are not prepared to help bring about. If I pray for peace I must work for peace. If I pray for a loved one who is sick I must be there for that person. If I pray for the spread of the Gospel I must be the Gospel for others. In some sense every prayer is already being answered if we allow ourselves to become part of the answer.
Can God change his mind or alter his plans? Our prayer of petition is not about that. God knows absolutely what is best for each of us and our “prayer requests” are part of a dialogue in faith which itself is part of his design for us from all eternity. It is here that God’s freedom and our freedom meet. Our relationship can never be that of equals, but it is He who invites us into this “partnership”. Together we face every trial, together we share every joy
Fr William Pearsall S.J.
From the archives. First published 13th February 2011.