One of the key Pillars of Lent is Prayer. This is besides Almsgiving and Fasting. During this Lenten time, we educate ourselves more about prayer and increase our practice of it. In today’s readings we are invited to reflect on the Pillar of Prayer.
Prayer as we might be aware can take different forms. There is a Prayer of Praise that celebrates God’s greatness and character; there is a Prayer of Worship or Adoration that celebrates God’s majesty or power, and there is a Prayer of Penance where we express sorrow for our individual and social sins and ask for forgiveness. There is also Prayer of Thanksgiving where we express gratitude for God’s blessings in our lives; there is also a Prayer of Lamentation where we express sorrow, grief, or distress, and call upon God’s intervention.
Today in both our First Reading and the Gospel, we are introduced to Petitionary Prayer. This is the kind of prayer that expresses our varied needs to God, highlight our powerlessness, and ask for God’s help. In our First Reading through the example of Queen of Esther, we have an illustration of Petitionary Prayer; and in the Gospel Jesus encourages us to petition and let God know our needs.
In our First Reading, the Jewish people were in exile in Persia and Haman the Prime Minister of the Kingdom, picked a grudge with the Jewish people. He thought they were gaining too much influence and favor from the King. Out of ill will, Haman plotted their killing through trumped up charges. It is in this context of death hanging over the Jewish people that Queen Esther turns to God in petition, expresses her powerlessness, and the powerlessness of her people, and asks God for intervention. She petitioned God, as we have heard, saying,
“God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, blessed are you. Help me, who am alone and have no help but you. Come help me, an orphan. Save us from the hand of our enemies; turn our mourning into gladness and our sorrows into wholeness.” (Esther C:12, 14-16, 23-25)
The order to kill the Jewish people was reversed by the King and it is instead the ill-willed plotters who were punished.
Have you ever felt powerless before a situation in life? Have you ever been in a situation where a grave issue simply was way beyond your power, your influence or your means? The Lord encourages us in the gospel today that, we should never be afraid to let our needs be known, express our powerlessness, and depend on Him for help.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. Which one of you would hand his son a stone when he asked for a loaf of bread?” (Matthew 7:7-12)
Today we can also ask ourselves: Is there a need you deeply care about, yet you have never had the courage and the consistency to bring it before the Lord? Is there a family member or a friend with a need on whose behalf you can petition God?
May we in this Mass ask just as the disciples did, “Lord teach us how to pray.”