Have mercy on us and on the whole world

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

Sodom and Gomorrah were sinful towns, deserving of judgment. Yet Abraham appealed to God for mercy and forgiveness. In a bargaining process Abraham succeeds in saving the towns from destruction. They were not his people, but the righteous man, Abraham, interceded for them.

At the Mass today, after the homily, we will have the Prayers of the Faithful. The document on the Liturgy from the Second Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum Concilium (1963) called for the restoration of Prayers of the Faithful at Mass. While such prayers had been in the Liturgy in earlier times, they had been taken out of the Liturgy at the Council of Trent.

Vatican II rightly restored the practice of the Christian community interceding for the needs of the Church and world. It stated,

Especially on Sundays and feasts of obligation there is to be restored, after the Gospel and the homily, “the common prayer” or “the prayer of the faithful.” By this prayer, in which the people are to take part, intercession will be made for holy Church, for the civil authorities, for those oppressed by various needs, for all mankind, and for the salvation of the entire world. (SC 53)

The Prayers of the Faithful are intended to be the Church praying for the needs of the world. We are being invited not just to think of our own immediate needs but to look more broadly.

In the opening words of the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, the Church expressed its fundamental solidarity with humanity: “The joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of people of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these too are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ. Indeed, nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts.” (GS 1)

Thus, the restoration of the Prayers of the Faithful offers a concrete way in which the Church can pray for the needs of the world in which we live. Indeed, these prayers invite us to see that we have a role, a task, of bringing the needs of humanity before God.

The Prayers of the Faithful fulfil the exhortation of St Paul in his Letter to Timothy when he says,

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way. This is good, and it is acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Tim 2:1-5)

St Paul urges the Christians to pray for the secular society in which they live and especially for those in leadership. As Christians we exercise our faith and charity when we intercede and invoke the mercy of God upon the world. We are doing what Abraham did for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

There is clear evidence that the early Christians incorporated such prayers into their worship and by the fourth century the Roman Rite had a set of nine prayers of intercession. We have remnants of this in the prayers we pray on Good Friday.

In today’s Gospel the Lord encourages us to petition God for our needs. Firstly, this is reflected in his own prayer, the Lord’s Prayer, where Jesus encourages us to pray for our needs (daily bread), for forgiveness, to be not tested beyond our limits.

Then he confirms the importance of prayer of petition by offering a parable of a persistent friend. The message is very simple: don’t give up. If you do not receive an answer then keep praying.

Then we have the stirring teaching: “Ask and you will receive, search and you will find, knock and the door will be opened”. If this is not enough, the Lord then compares our behaviour with the greater love and mercy of God: “Which one of you would hand his son a stone when he asks for a loaf of bread, or a snake when he asks for a fish? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him”.

When we petition God we don’t go feeling it is a waste of time. God listens. He cares. He loves. He answers. We come before God with humble hearts, but with great trust and confidence.

We know that we can offer our own prayers for the needs that we personally experience. The liturgy reminds us that we also pray as a Church for the needs of the world.

I am reminded of the Divine Mercy chaplet that we are encouraged to pray. We pray “For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world”. We invoke the mercy of God upon us and upon the whole world. This is our Christian duty and we carry out this duty through the Prayers of Intercession at Mass.

We are the Church. We are God’s People. We are people of faith. When we come to Mass one of the important things we do is standing before God and interceding on behalf of the world. While many who have no faith will not be praying, we will. We will turn to God and in humility and in trust place the needs of humanity before him. And the heart of our prayer is – “have mercy on us and on the whole world”.

Archbishop Julian Porteous

Sunday, 24 July 2022