Oh, the Wisdom of God

     My brother Issac had just gotten his driver’s license and was allowed to borrow our mother’s car for a night out with a friend. He was very excited and promised to be home before his curfew, which was midnight.

     The night went well, but when Issac dropped his friend at home, it was dark. My brother was not familiar with the neighborhood. Because of his lack of confidence and trying to prove himself an adult, he wouldn't ask for directions. He instead drove around for some time, unable to find familiar landmarks. This was before the days of cell phones, so his next task was to locate a phone booth to solicit help from one of his married siblings.


     He called me and another sibling and we both gave him the same advice: Call Dad. Issac did not want to do this because he didn't want his first outing to be seen as a failure. To make matters worse, when he got back into the car, it would not start. He began to pray and plead to God to start the car. He then pumped on the gas, turned the key in the ignition, and repeated this action numerous times, praying with each attempt. Nothing happened!

     By now, Issac was panicking. Not only was he lost, but the car would not work. He was now feeling frustrated and angry with God. Why wouldn't He just start the car! If it started, he could at least try to find his way home. But no, it did not.

     Much to Issac’s chagrin, he finally realized he had to call our father. Dad was not happy, but managed to find Issac’s location with the street names he was given. The car would not start for him either, so back home they went, with Issac’s wounded pride and spirit.

     The car was towed the following day to a repair shop, so the problem could be detected and hopefully, fixed. Our father received a call from the shop.  “Your son is a very lucky young man,” the mechanic told him. “If it had started, just one spark from the ignition and the car would have blown up!” Dad was flabbergasted and relieved at the same time.

     Had the prayer been answered Issac’s way that night, he wouldn't have lived to tell the tale.

     Issac’s prayer is the same type of prayer that was prayed long ago by a great saint of our Church – St. Monica -- whose feast day we celebrated yesterday (Aug. 27). She had been praying for some time for her son Augustine, who was living a sinful life. She prayed for seventeen years pleading and begging God for his conversion.

     On the night before Augustine was to leave Africa for Rome, Monica spent the night in a sea-side chapel praying. She was beseeching God to prevent Augustine’s leaving.  He was already living an immoral life and Monica feared that he could not handle the licentiousness and the alluring temptations he would face there. Augustine had told his mother earlier that evening, that he was going to the dock to say goodbye to a friend. He left for Rome instead, despite Monica’s pleading and prayer.

    Monica was stunned when she learned of his deceit and crushed that God had not answered her prayer. Little did she know, Augustine was in fact, on route to the place where his conversion would take place.

     In his “Confessions” Augustine wrote:

     “Thou, in the depths of Thy counsels, hearing the main point of her (Monica) desire, regarded not what she then asked, that Thou might make me what she ever desired.” “The form of her prayer was denied; but the substance of her prayer was granted.”

     Monica would then follow Augustine, on the next ship, to Rome and then to Milan.  There she met and pleaded with the great St. Ambrose for her son. St. Ambrose’s famous words to her, “It is not possible that the son of so many tears should perish,” must have brought comfort to her heart. Augustine’s conversion soon followed and today, we celebrate his feast (Aug. 28).

     Like Monica and Issac’s prayer uttered so long ago, there are times that what we are praying for is either not for our good, or the best outcome for our particular situation – or it’s just not the right time. God, in his all knowing goodness, refuses or delays our request. Like Monica and Issac, we too feel angry, upset, disappointed, forgotten, and maybe, even abandoned by God. We cannot and do not see the whole picture, but just the little bit that our finite eyes hold before us.

     “Which one of you would hand his son a stone when he asks for a loaf of bread, or a snake when he asks for a fish? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask Him” (Matt. 7 vs. 9 – 11)

     At the times, when our prayer seems unanswered, God is calling us to persevere, grow in virtue and trust Him completely. He is calling us to believe in His goodness and abandon ourselves to His ordaining and permissive will. He is asking us to trust that the ‘bread’ that we are asking for, is really a ‘stone,’ or the ‘fish’ that we think we need, is really a ‘snake.’ We do not have the eyes or mind of God to know what is truly good for us, but He, in His great wisdom, does.

     May we implore the great saints, like Monica and Augustine, to intercede for us, during the times when we are tempted to believe that our prayer is not answered. May we pray for the grace to stand firm and trust in the ‘bread’ we will receive from our heavenly Father in His good time.