The Father's Response

     “Prayers are God-filled words in which our love and God’s love are joined. That love embraces the people for whom we are praying, and love changes people and situations. This doesn’t mean that we will always get what we want, but Jesus does promise we will get what we need.”                                                                                                                                Rev. Jude Winkler, O.F.M.

     “God loves me so much that He provides my every need. God’s providence disposes and directs everything for His honor and glory and for the good of my soul."                                                                                                                                                            Mother Angelica


     In our head, we know that both Father Jude’s and Mother Angelica’s statements speak truth. But in our heart, when life does not turn out the way we were hoping and praying it would, we are filled with doubt.

     Watching those we love suffer is difficult. We wish that we could take their place and relieve them of their pain. God will sometimes allow us to share in their suffering, but our loved ones still remain on the cross. It is difficult to see both God’s love and ours embracing them while their suffering continues. During times of trial, it is downright hard to believe we’ve received what we need!
     How do we continue to pray with faith and confidence when the vicissitudes in life assault us and those we love? How do we hold onto and believe in God and His great love for us?

     Holy Scripture is clear, God, our heavenly Father, will only give us what is good for us. It doesn’t necessarily “feel” good, nor “look” good to our earthly eyes, but we are to be assured by God’s Word that it is. Somehow, this painful event and GOD’S ANSWER to our prayer is for the good of our salvation.

     “What father among you, would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish: Or hand him a scorpion if he asks for an egg?” (Lk 11:11-12).

     When it appears to us that God has said no to our prayer request – a request that we see as something good and reasonable – we must tell ourselves that the very thing that we see as a “fish,” is really a "snake." Papa will never give us a snake. It would harm us. We need to tell this to ourselves, over and over again, because our minds and our hearts are having difficulty believing it.

     St. John Paul II experienced suffering throughout his life. He lost his mother as a young boy, his brother in his teenage years, and his father in early adulthood. He experienced the horrors of WWII and through it all, did not lose his faith and trust in God. Suffering purified and perfected his faith and trust in his heavenly Father.  In fact, his experience deepened and intensified his relationship with God and his prayer life. His suffering bore the fruit of his vocation to the priesthood. He allowed God’s light to break through his darkness and trusted God despite what was happening around him.  Because of experiences he lived, St. John Paul can teach us much about praying, especially during times of darkness.

   John Paul declares, “What does praying mean? Prayer means feeling one’s own insufficiency through the various necessities which man has to face, necessities that are part of his life. To learn to pray means ‘to learn the Father.’  If we learn the ‘Father’ reality in the full sense of the word, in its full dimension, we have learned everything. To learn who the Father is means what absolute trust is. To learn the Father means acquiring the certainty that He absolutely cannot refuse anything. He does not refuse you even when everything, materially and psychologically, seems to indicate refusal. He never refuses you.”

     It is not difficult for us to feel our own insufficiencies when life does not go our way. We know the experience of feeling helpless and not being able to change our situation. What we need to learn and know instead, is the Father. John Paul tells us that to learn who the Father is means to know what absolute trust is. A knowing from the tip of our head, till the bottom of our toes that we are loved by the Father. That His love is so great that He will not refuse us anything that is ultimately for our good. When He seems to say no, it is we who need the vision adjustment.

     We can know all of this in our head. It is our humanity that takes some time to catch up to accept and surrender to God’s ordaining or permitting will. In the meantime, we must hold onto hope, beseeching Our Lady, to help us to truly know the Father as she did. Mary knew the love of the Father both at Bethlehem and Calvary. She trusted the Father enough to offer her son Jesus to Him on the Cross. She experienced the Fathers’ love which enabled her to stand at the foot of the Cross.

     “In all the circumstances of our life, even the saddest and most painful, we are always encompassed by His love. God’s love can will nothing but good; even when He leads us by the harsh, rough road of suffering, He is infallibly willing our good” (Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen).

     Oh my dear sweet Papa! Life is full of, what looks to our eyes, contradictions, emptiness and painful events. During these times, it is very hard to feel Your love or accept that this event is really for the best. It is so difficult to trust You when life seems unfair. Help us to truly know You and Your love and concern for us. Increase our faith and trust in You. Give us the confidence to realize that when we prayer, our love and Your love are joined, embracing those for whom we pray. Strengthen us in our struggle. Pick us up and hold us close to Your heart when the storms in our lives knock us down. Send down the graces that You gave to Mary that enabled her to remain at Calvary to fulfill Your will. Give us the heroic virtues that we need to trust You as we live our lives. Help us to truly KNOW You. Help us to trust that Your providence is disposing and directing all for Your honor and glory and the good of our souls. Amen.