Father Manny asked Father Andrew to publish his homily from last weekend in today’s bulletin:

There is always far more going on than meets the eye. A great benefit in our modern era has been the advance of science allowing us to peer into the mysteries of the universe both far beyond us in the cosmos and within us at the molecular level. We have been able to grasp so much more than the naked human eye can see. Everything is held together by gravity, a force that cannot be seen, but is certainly felt. The spiritual life is very similar. God’s grace works in many powerful, yet unseen ways. The secret is prayer.  

Prayer is our lifeblood. It brings us into intimate communion with Jesus Christ who Himself took time to pray. In prayer, we praise and adore God, we thank Him, we atone for our sins, and we plead with Him for ourselves, our families, and our world.  We belong to a Praying Church, best exemplified by Our Blessed Mother who kept all things in her heart. So much of the Church at prayer happens in silence, in the unknown to us, seen by God alone. Yet, it holds us all together. Think of the service done to the Church by the contemplative men and women religious who spend their lives in prayer for us.  

Today’s first reading offers us a fascinating account which can be applied to the state of the Church today. We, brothers and sisters, are embroiled in a raging spiritual battle, much of it unseen. We are the people of Israel waging war against the forces of Amalek. The people of light against the forces of darkness. Moses stood on top of the hill overlooking the battle with the staff of God in his hand. As long as Moses kept his hands raised, Israel had the better of the fight, but when he let his hands rest, Amalek had the upper hand. In our context, see that gesture of Moses as the prayer of God’s people. When we are praying, we have the better of the fight. When we lose sight of the Lord, the forces of darkness gain the upper hand. It is the unseen prayer that helps navigate our Church through the ages. It is fair to say that the ages of greatest sin and confusion came about because we grew lax in our prayer. Those closest to the spiritual battle attest to this truth. This is absolutely crucial to keep in mind as we consider our world and our Church today.  

Padre Pio, one of those brightest spiritual lights, told us to pray, hope, and not worry. Simple, yet profound. We must persevere in that prayer like the widow in today’s Gospel who won her cause due to her persistence. In the same way, we win over the heart of God when we persevere in prayer. That is, when we persevere over our own aversion to prayer, our distractions, our impatience, and our exasperation when it seems that God doesn’t hear us. That is when prayer is at its most powerful, when we offer it at our most desperate. Prayer is the easiest, yet most important thing for us to do as the People of God. It can be those Our Fathers and Hail Marys. It can be that simple conversation acknowledging God during a busy day. It can be time spent before the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle or in adoration. What’s most important is letting God in and letting Him stay.  

The difficulty is that in the spiritual battle, it is easy for us to grow cynical and critical. We look at the Church and the world and we fret. We gossip, we criticize the Pope and the bishops, we wring out all the dirty laundry. We like to get ahold of the juiciest piece of gossip and be the first to tell others. For some reason, that makes us feel good. Sometimes, we even look for websites and news sources with commentators saying exactly what we feel. Then we spread it to whomever will listen. In all that, we lose sight of the fact that the Church is our Mother, whom we must never abandon. Instead, we need to pray for her. Teresa of Avila once said that if we have the words to criticize a priest, we must have double to pray for him. The same is true for every member of the Church. We must have double the time and effort to pray for each other.  

Now, that’s not to say that there isn’t justified criticism. We have to be real here. There are forces in this world and in hell actively seeking to undermine the Faith and tear the Church to shreds. Teresa of Avila offered her fair share of criticism within the Church as she was reforming the Carmelite order. St. Catherine of Siena once called the clergy, “those dogs who had lost their bark”. She even stood up to the Pope on various occasions. He listened to her, by the way. But read about her life. No one prayed for the Church like Catherine of Siena. No one fasted and did penance for the Church like Catherine of Siena. When was the last time that we fasted or did penance for the Church rather than sharing that salacious news story or clicking on that link to that website critical of the Pope?  

Brothers and sisters, prayer and sacrifice are tangible and powerful things that you and I can do. It will tip the scales of the spiritual battle. Prayer will allow Israel to overcome the forces of Amalek. That much has already been guaranteed to us by Our Lord in His death on the Cross and in His glorious Resurrection! The powers of hell have nothing to overcome that! That is an immutable fact. Prayer will hold us together as gravity does, as God’s grace does. Pray, Hope, and Don’t Worry. I repeat, brothers and sisters, Pray, Hope, and Don’t Worry. We are in the battle, yet the battle has already been won.  

– Fr. Andrew Tomonto, Homily for the XXIX Sunday in Ordinary Time; Sunday, October 16, 2022.