We do not know what it is right to pray for

Treasures of Our Faith with Deacon Richard Vehige

On Thursday of the Twenty-Ninth Week in Ordinary Time our Church invites us to first read and reflect on a passage from the book of the Esther (5:1-5; 7:1-10) entitled “The king and Haman dine with Ester. Haman is hung”. Our treasure, which follows, is from a letter to Proba by Saint Augustine, bishop.

Saint Augustine was born at Tagaste in Africa in 354. He was unsettled and restlessly searched for the truth until he was converted to the faith at Milan and baptized by Ambrose. Returning to his homeland, he embraced an ascetic life and subsequently was elected bishop of Hippo. For thirty-four years he guided his flock, instructing it with sermons and many writings. He fought bravely against the errors of his time and explained the Faith carefully and cogently through his writings. He is also a preeminent Catholic Doctor of the Church. His writings influenced the development of western philosophy and western Christianity, and he is viewed as one of the most important Church Fathers of the Latin Church in the Patristic Period. He died in 430.

The letter to Proba is probably Augustine's best-known letter. It was written in the year 412, by which time he had been a bishop for about seventeen years. Anicia Faltonia Proba was the widow of the wealthiest man in the Roman Empire. Proba asked Augustine how she ought to pray, and in his response he advised her on the kind of person she ought to be, and what she ought to pray for.

Proba’s request elicited Augustine's most mature and sympathetic statements about his ideal for Christian life. Unlike others providing advice, Augustine could find room for a spectrum of human failings. In his own life and in that of others, he sought and encouraged blessedness, in spite of human failings. This letter to Proba is a short instruction on Christian private prayer. The letter has two parts. Augustine first explains the interior condition desirable for praying. He then explains the purpose of private prayer is to help the attainment of a blessed life. He suggests that the use of words be kept brief and fervent, and be supported by a life of good works. The words are needed only to help us keep in mind what a person is requesting, and are not necessary to remind or persuade God regarding the request being made. Augustine proclaims that the Lord’s Prayer contains all the praise and petition that prayer requires. A person is free to express the same sentiments in other words if desired, but not to ask for anything that is either contrary to or beyond the scope of the Lord’s Prayer.

The Book of Esther tells a story of the deliverance of the Jewish people. We are shown a Persian emperor, Ahasuerus, who makes momentous decisions for trivial reasons, and his wicked minister, Haman, who takes advantage of the king’s compliance to pursue a personal vendetta against the Jews by having a royal decree issued ordering their destruction. The threat is averted by two Jews, Esther and Mordecai. Their influence and intervention allow the Jews to turn the tables on their enemies and rout their attackers. The book confronts the modern reader with important themes, the evils of genocide and racism.