The Boldness of Christian Prayer

A Filial Cry in the Face of Sin

Christ ascended to the righthand of the Father raises Christian prayer above the exigencies of the moment. This means that the exigencies, the trials, the hardships of daily life, even when these appear insurmountable, even when the sting of death would seem to have the last word; none of this exhausts the meaning or power of Christian prayer. This prayer re-capitulates any state of affairs, no matter the powers that underly them, because it accesses a greater and more fundamental power. Spiritual forces above and below the plane of human consciousness, indeed even human existence, fail to circumscribe this act of faith. This cry of the heart rests on something totally other - higher, deeper, utterly beyond all principalities and powers, surpassing all psychological mechanisms and archetypes.

In this cry of faith, a mutual recognition of love and sorrow is grounded in a mystery more fundamental than anything that passes on the earth or even in the heavens. This ground or bottomless abyss exceeds the power of human cognition to conceive. This height beyond the highest heavens raises the heart where reason can only follow behind. Were it not revealed to us, had not the Word who was in the Beginning ascended there, we would not know it existed. But because the Son has returned to the Father and wills that where He is, all those who have been given to Him might also be so that they do might see, behold, contemplate the ever astonishing and undying glory that He knows. Faith cleaves to this eternal filial love that knows the Father, and it does so exactly in the vicissitudes of this present life.

What happens when in the midst of daily difficult one glimpses the glory of the Father in the shadow of faith? This is the theological reality behind what Catholics once spoke of as “offering it up.” When a soul chooses to live by love where there is no love, love becomes present in a way that it never was before. Such a decision is no mere moral resolution or a nice wish. It involves a firmness of purpose that unaided human nature cannot muster. It presumes this cry of the heart that pierces highest heavens. It presumes a confidence in the goodness of the Father even in the face of would would be completely antithetical to such love.

Indeed, before all else, the love of the Father and the Son in the power of the Spirit is the source of all that is and all that is flows back to this great mystery of love. Faith in Christ is an intrinsic part of this flowing - this faith knows in each moment of time the birth of eternal life. When the Word became Flesh, when the Son of the Father became the son of Mary, He implicated Himself in our plight even to the point of overcoming sin and conquering death. Belief in Him allows this power to flow into the heart and through the heart into the world until the Father’s eternal plan is realized in His Son. So is Christian prayer an eternal filial cry to the Father. It is radical confidence in this love that conquers sin and death Christian faith renders when it prays.

This prayer flowing from eternal filial love confronts falsehood in the heart even before it unveils it in word and action. This harmony of word and action, of what is in the heart and what is expressed in life, rings out against the disharmony of sin. It is never tolerant or excusing of evil, but courageous in making known the truth no matter the cost. Yet this kind of prayer does not culminate in accusation or condemnation. It boldly lays bare the truth only to win a change in mind and heart, a repentance, new beginning. Its power unfolds in the logic of Divine Mercy.

When disaster comes, and it will, this filial cry clings to hope. It endures all things, offering every bodily inconvenience and discomfort as a spiritual sacrifice, as true worship, because it clings to the One who Conquered death. It tastes the blessedness of being poor, hunger, thirsty, persecuted and hated for Christ’s sake, and it learns to rejoice in all the beautiful ways the love of God remains undaunted, even as its own flesh falls apart. This prayer raises up in cruciform confidence the noble aspirations and heartaches of humanity and believes because it suffers what is lacking, in some mysterious manner, God has found its sacrifices worthy to be part of his plan, worthy to help create the ripe conditions for a new outpouring of the Father’s love on earth. No technology, no military or political power, no achievement of human industry can thwart such prayer - but this prayer can transform every evil into a new fountain of grace to quench the thirst of man and God.