Dominica XXV per annum, C

21 September, A.D. MMXXV

          “I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone … that in every place [you] should pray … without anger or argument.”

          St. Paul gives us a challenging task today. How do we pray for those who inspire “anger and argument” – and much worse! – in our hearts? How do we pray “for kings and for all in authority” when it is impossible to think about so many authority figures without being overcome with rage? How do we pray for those who perpetrate senseless acts of violence?

          Lest we think that St. Paul could not possibly appreciate the difficulty we face, remember that this is a man who has been imprisoned by “those in authority” for his preaching of the Gospel. Paul has seen believers stoned to death. He has a fiery disposition. He is not naturally inclined to “a quiet and tranquil life,” as we can see by his furious missionary activity, and the strong words with which he frequently chastises backsliders.

          But Paul also knows the power of prayer and the possibility of conversion. Before becoming a great missionary, he was the chief persecutor of Christ’s Church. At the stoning of St. Stephen, the first martyr, the executioners laid down their robes at his feet so they wouldn’t be soiled by the spattering of Stephen’s blood. Paul is living proof that conversion is real, and that it happens in the most unlikely of places and to the most unlikely of people.

          Paul overcomes his own naturally explosive disposition by tapping into God’s desire for those for whom he prays: “This is good and pleasing to God our savior, who wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth.” What is God’s desire for this person? What does God want for him or her? He desires everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth. When you struggle to desire those same goods for someone – whether it’s someone in authority, or just someone in your life who drives you crazy – focus on God’s desire for him or her.

          There is also a key to this puzzle in today’s Gospel, which at first glace does not seem to have anything to do with St. Paul’s epistle to Timothy. Christ tells us about a steward who acts in a dishonest manner to ensure a soft landing when he is dismissed from his job. He is not, of course, encouraging fraud. He is pointing out that we can often act prudently and skillfully with things of lesser importance (namely, material things) than we do with spiritual things, which are of much greater importance.

          “If, therefore, you are not trustworthy with dishonest wealth, who will trust you with true wealth? If you are not trustworthy with what belongs to another, who will give you what is yours?” To equate material wealth with “what belongs to another” is definitely not going to make our Lord popular. To be told that our material possessions are not really ours goes against our sense of propriety and fairness, especially when we have worked hard for our house, our business, our job, our education, etc. But the real question here is not whether those material possessions belong more to you or whether they can be taken by taxation or other means. The more important questions is, “Who are you?”

          If the human person is primarily a material reality, then what most perfectly pertains to him or her is material goods. But if the human person is more importantly a spiritual reality, then what is really yours is not the goods of this world, but the blessed life of eternity in heaven, which truly completes men or women far more than any material possession.

          To fulfill St. Paul’s command to pray for everyone, then, we need a spirit of detachment. Our inability to pray for those in authority or those who perpetrate atrocities can reveal our own over-attachments to this world. The wise use and detachment from “dishonest wealth” – not just in the sense of being obtained by dishonest means, but in the sense of its ‘lying’ about the ultimate purpose of men and women – reminds us of the priority of our spiritual end, and of God’s desire for the salvation of all.

          This can happen not only through our attachment to material possessions, but also through our attachment to the fate of this world. Of course, we care about the world that our children and grandchildren will inherit, but we also have to remember that this world is ultimately passing away, and that its fate is primarily in the Lord’s hands.

          I likely err too far on the other side, being perhaps more ignorant than I ought about national or world affairs. But sometimes when people ask me how they are supposed to pray about a certain situation, and I really have no idea what they’re talking about, and strongly suspect that the situation in question has very little immediate bearing on their lives, I have to wonder, “Maybe it would be better if you didn’t know about that situation in the first place.”

          There is a well-documented connection between exposure to social media and news media and anger. People who spend more time on social media and watching the news are more likely to be angry. We can also pray in a more general way for world leaders – like we do at Mass in the General Intercessions or Universal Prayer (commonly known as “the petitions”) – without having to know the specifics of what all of them are up to.

          With a greater spirit of detachment from material possessions, and from the fate of this transitory world, we can pray for those in authority and everyone for whom it is difficult to pray if we remember what God desires for them and for us, what truly pertains to the human person as a spiritual creature with a spiritual end: salvation.

The Rev. Royce V. Gregerson

Parish Church of Our Lady of Good Hope, Fort Wayne

XXV Sunday through the Year, A.D. MMXXV