All life is directed towards an end. We are simply contingent creatures which hold the necessary Being. Our Soul is filled with this gift of life from the Life Giver. Our task in this world is not one of achievement in finance or popularity or even power. Our role is to sanctify our souls; to let God reign in our life’s actions and thoughts. Today we are struck by a pattern that is often overlooked in our spiritual lives. We can call this the Pattern of Prayer.
After Our Lord taught the disciples upon the mount, He descends to the level of the crowd at the base of the mount. There He encounters a leper and this leper recognizes the divine power at work within this Person. The leper prostrates himself in adoration before he presents his petition. Then the words come out: “If you will, You can heal me.” It is a statement of faith and fact. Our Lord responded: “I do will it, be thou made clean.” Immediately the leprosy left him upon a touch from the Divine Son of God. Before any petition the adoration of the divine is essential. Consider the story as it continues.
The healed leper is told to authenticate this miracle by presenting his gift to the unbelieving priests. Jesus is always seeking us out by signs and wonders. Perhaps the priests might recognize a power in Jesus that they have never experienced before and must come to grips with this power.
Shortly after the leper’s cleansing, a centurion encounters Jesus with a dying servant. He too, indicates the authority of the divine as he asks for Jesus to heal this poor suffering servant.
Again, Jesus bends to the desires of this soldier and says “I will come and heal him.” The will of God is actively seeking to heal all of us but there is something unique about this centurion. He is a man accustomed to giving orders. His soldiers move as he directs them with his word. As he finds his word moving his men so Jesus can use the authority of His Word to heal and so, the famous line: “Oh Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldst enter my soul, but say only the Word and I shall be healed.”
Jesus marveled at the faith of this centurion and does just as the soldier asked. In each case the Will of God is manifested because of the recognition of the suppliant who knows Jesus is
God. For this reason, the word used for Jesus’ power is “ex-ousias” which is translated as “out of one’s being.” Authority is derived from one’s being and in this case the Being is God. His word never returns to Him void but it returns to Him perfectly. Every word that comes forth from the mouth of God is creative, prophetic and eternal. For this reason one cannot change what God has done.
How many times we have heard that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is not in time but He is eternal. Hence His Word is eternal and consequently prophetic. If you know His Word you will know what will come next in our world. Hence His word creates the world and its movement through time. Each of us must rest in the eternal love of God and imitate our Lady in silence, prayer, penance and almsgiving. In doing this we will conquer the world around us and prepare for the world that awaits us.
In the hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
Fr. Richard Voigt
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