Chrysostom
Beloved of All
The anguish of this sudden accident, at the very hour when life was to spring forth, must not be met with despair. Consider how our Lord Himself spoke of the pangs of childbirth, likening them to the sorrows of His disciples before the Resurrection. The pain is sharp, but it is the herald of a joy so full that the mother no longer remembers the anguish, because a human being has been born into the world. This present trouble is like that birth pang. Though the journey was interrupted by calamity, do not let faith be interrupted. God can bring the mother and child safely through, and what seems now a chaos of fear may yet yield a harvest of gratitude.
Prayer is our mighty weapon, and never more needed than now. We will lift up your sister in law with all earnestness, just as the Church prayed without ceasing for Peter, and he was delivered. Yet I would not have you rely on our prayers alone, as if you yourself had no need to be vigilant. The prayer of the righteous avails much, but only when they who ask are also themselves striving with God. If you have any root of bitterness or unreconciled quarrel in your heart, cast it out speedily. Bring your own sacrifice of prayer, but first be at peace with your brother, lest your gift be rejected. Too many seek the prayers of the saints while their own hands are slack and their souls entangled. Wake, then, and plead for her yourself, and let your own life become a prayer.
Why did our Lord, who had only to command the dead to rise, yet pray at the tomb of Lazarus? Not from any weakness, but to show that His will and the Father’s are one, and to teach us who are slow to believe. He condescended to the form of prayer for the sake of the weak. So now, when we pray in the face of this accident, we do not inform God of something He does not know, nor bend a reluctant will. We cling to His promise and exercise our trust. Commend the sufferer to the grace of God, and know that even if her hour is filled with agony, the Lord who loosed the pangs of death can make this the gateway to a double blessing. The Church will join you in crying out, and we will trust that He who hears always will show His mercy for the sake of His love, bringing consolation out of terror, and life where darkness threatened.
Prayer is our mighty weapon, and never more needed than now. We will lift up your sister in law with all earnestness, just as the Church prayed without ceasing for Peter, and he was delivered. Yet I would not have you rely on our prayers alone, as if you yourself had no need to be vigilant. The prayer of the righteous avails much, but only when they who ask are also themselves striving with God. If you have any root of bitterness or unreconciled quarrel in your heart, cast it out speedily. Bring your own sacrifice of prayer, but first be at peace with your brother, lest your gift be rejected. Too many seek the prayers of the saints while their own hands are slack and their souls entangled. Wake, then, and plead for her yourself, and let your own life become a prayer.
Why did our Lord, who had only to command the dead to rise, yet pray at the tomb of Lazarus? Not from any weakness, but to show that His will and the Father’s are one, and to teach us who are slow to believe. He condescended to the form of prayer for the sake of the weak. So now, when we pray in the face of this accident, we do not inform God of something He does not know, nor bend a reluctant will. We cling to His promise and exercise our trust. Commend the sufferer to the grace of God, and know that even if her hour is filled with agony, the Lord who loosed the pangs of death can make this the gateway to a double blessing. The Church will join you in crying out, and we will trust that He who hears always will show His mercy for the sake of His love, bringing consolation out of terror, and life where darkness threatened.
