Saturday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 346

The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful.
Elijah was a man like us;
yet he prayed earnestly that it might not rain,
and for three years and six months it did not rain upon the land.
Then Elijah prayed again, and the sky gave rain
and the earth produced its fruit.

Saint Paul urges us in the oldest document of the New Testament to Pray without ceasing. Our first and easiest duty as the People of God is to pray. Out of that blessed practice flows our patience, gratitude, generosity, courage, joy, and willing abstinence from the idle distractions of modern life. 

In today's first reading, Saint James also reminds us of the duty and privilege of our prayerful life. The first sentence describes three different human conditions: suffering, good spirits, and sickness. The response to suffering is prayer with songs of praise; and to suffering, we call in the elders of the Church to pray for recovery. 

We should pray especially for the forgiveness of sins. We cannot know the mercy of God without a keen awareness of our sins. Those afflicted with ignorance of their sins may salute God from afar, as if they are fellow beings in the universe who occasionally work together on a worthwhile task. They might even take their places in the Church, like the Pharisee in Jesus's parable, and remind the Lord of their extraordinary virtue. 

But repentant sinners know their need for God's forbearance and merciful help. They may be occasionally overwhelmed by the enormity of their sins, like the saints who are given visions of their prepared places in Hell. They consider the latitude, entitlements, and privilege they've enjoyed in God's presence and their carelessness about it. In all humility they turn to the Lord again and again, like Mary Magdalene who turned away from the empty tomb and then turned to the Lord. (Saint John emphasizes her turning by using the word twice in verses 14 and 16.)

Our responsorial psalm today, Psalm 141, has been described as the prayer of a penitent who knows the need for God's guidance and discipline. Four verses enumerate God's saving work: 

1. Set a guard, LORD, before my mouth,
2. keep watch over the door of my lips.
3. Do not let my heart incline to evil, to perform deeds in wickedness.
4. Let me not feast on the delicacies of the arrogant.

As serious as these disciplines might be, they are graced with a joyous invocation, "Let my prayer come like incense before you." And they agree with Saint James advice for those in good spirits, "they should sing a song of praise." 

If a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down in the most delightful way, our daily prayer makes our continual disciplines pleasant, satisfying, and effective. They assure us of our place in heaven even as we take our assigned places and fulfill our assigned roles on earth.