Prayer in Battle

This is a computer-generated transcription that has been included to make the homily searchable.  It has not been verified by the author. 

“In those days, Amalek came and waged war against Israel.” This passage we have in the first reading today is a good example of how often in Scripture, especially in the Old Testament, God uses visible events to teach us about invisible realities. And so, the Israelites have begun their journey during the Exodus, and they’re being attacked now by the, by Amalek. And we might think, well, they’re doing God’s will. I mean, when we’re trying to follow God’s will, we might think that it’s going to be smooth sailing. But like, for the Israelites, there’s a lot of struggles and even enemies on this journey. And so, let’s look at some of the lessons that the Lord is teaching us in this passage. So, the situation, again, is that Israelites have set out, have left Egypt and began their journey. And this is, not long ago,was that moment, that dramatic moment at the Red Sea. But this is a very different situation. Remember that they came to the Red Sea, and then Pharaoh’s army was approaching them. And the Scripture talks a lot about the chariots of Pharaoh, and chariots were some of the greatest parts, the kind of like the new technology, that new military technology, which was very impressive. And so, these great chariots of war are with all the Pharaoh’s army are descending upon them, and this is an almost impossible situation for them; and probably also they needed an amazing proof of God’s power. So, the Lord says to Israel, rather, He says to Moses, He tells Moses to tell the people the Lord will fight for you and you have only to be still. So, the Lord is not telling them go out and fight against Pharaoh. He’s saying the Lord is going to do the fighting. You just have to be still. But look how different this situation is. So, this is now when the Amalek is attacking them. It’s probably an enemy that’s not nearly as overwhelming as Pharaoh’s army. And so this attack can represent many different struggles, many different attacks that we experience on our path to follow the Lord, and especially now, as we’re in this great time of the reconquest, when in a time in which the world is experiencing many evils like never before, and the battle is intensifying, and even the battle in the Church. And so, what does God tell them to do? And this is very, it’s a helpful lesson, there’s a lot of teaching here about how we’re supposed to engage in these battles and cooperate with God. And so, what does the Lord tell them to do? So here he doesn’t tell them, like he told like Moses told them when Pharaoh’s armies were attacking him. He doesn’t say you only have to be still. Here on the contrary, it says Moses said to Joshua, pick out certain men and tomorrow go out and engage Amalek in battle. So, see the difference? Against Pharaoh’s army, they said the Lord’s going to do the fighting. You just have to be still here. Here he is saying, choose men to go out and fight against Amalek. So, they’re called to use their human abilities, the human capacities in this great struggle. But then Moses says something unusual. So, what he’s telling them there is not unusual. So go out and do battle against Amalek. But then he says something unusual. He says, “I will be standing on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand. I’ll be standing on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” So that doesn’t seem like a very effective battle strategy, right? To go up on a hill with the staff of God. What good will that do. But Joshua did, as Moses told him. He engaged Amalek in battle, after Moses had already climbed to the top of the hill with Aaron and Hur. And so, we see here that the Israelites in this situation, again as different from at the Red Sea, here they are called to use all their human abilities, which are an important part of this, to do what they can humanly, to use the abilities that God has given them to respond humanly. So, they’re called not to – so this is kind of the balance on this – they’re not called to just do nothing. They’re called to do what they can humanly. But that is not enough. Those human efforts are important, but they’re not enough. And so, what else does it tell us? It says, “as long as Moses kept his hands raised up, Israel had the better of the fight, but when he lets his hands rest, Amalek had the better of the fight.” So that’s kind of weird that the battle, this battle between the Amalekites and the Israelites, depends a lot on whether Moses has his arms raised or whether he lowers his arms. So, what is that expressing? And I think what it’s expressing because that’s the way the Israelites often prayed, by raising up their hands. It seemed like it’s expressing that when Moses persevered in prayer, the Israelites were victorious. But when he like, maybe got tired and gave up, then the Amalekites were winning. And so that you know, that’s helpful to know, because if you were looking at this battle, it wouldn’t be clear. You would see, sometimes the Israelites are winning, and sometimes the Amalekites are winning. But you wouldn’t know why. Why sometimes one is winning and why sometimes the other is winning. We wouldn’t know what’s causing that. But so, the Scripture is revealing that it’s Moses, way up there on the hill, whether his arms are raised or lowered. And I think it’s a good example, because oftentimes the action of prayer is hidden. And we just celebrated a famous example that on October 7, the Feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, which is also the Feast of Our Lady of Victory, because it celebrates and commemorates the Battle of Lepanto, one of the greatest naval, one of the most decisive naval battles in history, when the immense Muslim navy was threatening to overwhelm the Christian forces and Don Juan of Austria, leading the Christian navy. And he had the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe – it wasn’t long after her apparition – had the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on his flagship. And Pope St Pius the fifth had called all the Catholics to be interceding with the rosary. And there was an amazing victory, amazing naval victory at Lepanto. But again, it wouldn’t have been necessarily clear to the people just looking at it humanly, what is making a difference between losing and winning. So oftentimes the action of prayer is very powerful but hidden. And so, I think one of the key lessons that this is talking to us about is that the human efforts are important. The Lord is asking them again to do what they can humanly, not to be lazy, but to do what they can humanly. But even more important than that is the prayer, the intercessory prayer. So, prayer is what is decisive. It’s not just prayer. It’s also that the human efforts, but the prayer is decisive, but prayer itself is hard. Prayer can be very hard, whether the gospel today is speaking about the difficulty of persevering in prayer and faith. Jesus says, “when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?” And so, I think many of us know that prayer can be very difficult. We can get tired, we can get bored. Prayer can be very dry. We can have distractions, like you can come to Mass and there’s a priest who talks a long time, and you can have distractions, and the Mass is long, and there’s all sorts of temptations that can come to us in prayer, and many doubts. So, prayer itself can be like a battle in which it’s hard to persevere. And so, it’s interesting again, that what we see in this account. It says, “Moses’ hands, however, grew tired.” And as a sign of this, this prayer is hard, and so they put a rock in place for him to sit on. And I don’t know exactly what that rock signifies, but I thought maybe it’s like the different helps that the Lord gives us to help us pray, and like this Holy Eucharist that we’re celebrating right now, and the very prayers, like the prayer of the Our Father, that He teaches us in the scripture that He gives us, like especially the Psalms, the prayer of the Psalms, and also great prayers, like the rosary. We were just talking about the Battle of Lepanto, the rosary, like the Chapel of Divine Mercy. All these helps that the Lord gives us to help us pray. And then not only do they put a rock for Moses to sit on, but it says, “Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other, so that his hands remain steady till sunset.” And so not only do they put that rock there, but he has people helping him persevere. And so, what could that mean? One thing it might mean is how helpful it is to have a community of prayer, which is something that we’re doing right now. The Lord doesn’t just ask us all to pray on Sundays, but he invites us to come together, to come together. And part of the advantage of coming together is the support we give each other. And also, it could even mean other ways. For instance, the people whose support, whose support, benefactors who help communities who are especially devoted to prayer, like contemplative communities, to continue their vocation. And I think of all the people whose support helps our little mission to continue. And then we also have our invisible, great friends, the angels, the angels, and with the angels, also the souls in Purgatory and the saints in heaven who are right with us right now and always helping us persevere. And so, we see in this battle, there’s like different roles. There’s those who are on the battlefield, fighting, using their human efforts against evil, which is important, and there’s those who are interceding through prayer and sacrifice, and then there’s those who are supporting them. So, there’s all these different roles which are important. And just so one final lesson about this passage for today. Joshua, who is leading the battle on the battlefield, is a form of the name, the name Jesus. and so many of the Fathers of the Church have seen this as a sign, as that it’s Jesus who is leading the battle. And Moses with his arms outstretched, it can also be a prefiguration of Jesus, whose arms are outstretched on the cross. There are Fathers of the Church like St Cyprian and St Justin Martyr, who saw Moses as a sign of Jesus interceding as he’s offering Himself in sacrifice. And where it’s not Aaron and Hur, but now it’s our Blessed Mother who is at the Cross sustaining, helping to sustain Jesus in His sacrifice. And the end result of all of this is that the Israelites, after this difficult battle, triumph with those who are fighting on the battlefield, with those who are interceding in prayer, with those who are supporting the Israelites triumph. And so, in conclusion, we are now in this great battle of the reconquest, and it calls for us also to both to use our human abilities in this great battle, and but the battle can be very hard, can be very discouraging, and it can be hard to persevere. And so the key to this battle will be union with our Lord in prayer. And that’s what we’re called to right now, as we’re celebrating the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. All of us right now, as we come to the Mass, we’re called to intercede like Moses on the Mountain by joining ourselves to the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross with our Blessed Mother, with Jesus, to offer our own struggles, our own efforts, our own perseverance, our own sacrifice that will lead to the great triumph of the reconquest Amen. 

KEYWORDS / PHRASES:
Exodus 17:8-13
Luke 18:1-8
2 Timothy 2:14-4:2