Vigils Reading – 27th Sunday
WATCH AND PRAY
From a commentary by St Augustine
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Reading the holy gospel nourishes in us the habit of prayer, builds up our
faith, and disposes us to trust in the Lord rather than in ourselves. What more
powerful motive to prayer could be proposed to us than the parable of the unjust
judge? An unprincipled man, without fear of God or regard for other people,
that judge nevertheless ended by granting the widow’s petition. No kindly
sentiment moved him to do so; he was rather worn down by her pestering. Now
if a man can grant a request even when it is odious to him to be asked, how can
we be refused by the one who urges us to ask?
Having persuaded us, therefore, by a comparison of opposites that we
ought always to pray and never lose heart, the Lord goes on to put the
question: Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, do you think he will find
faith on earth? Where there is no faith, there is no prayer. Who would pray for
something he did not believe in? So when the blessed apostle exhorts us to pray
he begins by declaring: Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved;
but to show that faith is the source of prayer and the stream will not flow if its
springs are dried up, he continues: But can people call upon him in whom they
do not believe?
We must believe, then, in order to pray; and we must ask God that the
faith enabling us to pray may not fail. Faith gives rise to prayer, and this prayer
obtains an increase of faith. Faith, I say, gives rise to prayer, and is in turn
strengthened by prayer. It was to guard against their faith failing in times of
temptation that the Lord told his disciples: Watch and pray that you may not
enter into temptation…
What does it mean to enter into temptation? It means to turn one’s back
on faith. Temptation grows stronger in proportion as faith weakens, and
becomes weaker in proportion as faith grows strong. To convince you, beloved,
that he was speaking of the weakening and loss of faith when he told his
disciples to watch and pray that they might not enter into temptation, the Lord
said in this same passage of the gospel: This night Satan has demanded to sift
you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, Peter, that your faith may not fail.
Is the protector to pray, while the person in danger has no need to do so?
But in asking whether the Son of Man would find faith on earth at his
coming, the Lord was speaking of perfect faith. That kind of faith is indeed
hardly to be found on earth. Look at God’s Church: it is full of people. Who
would come here if faith were non-existent? But who would not move
mountains if that faith were present in full measure? Mark the apostles: they
would never have left everything they possessed and spurned worldly ambition
to follow the Lord unless their faith had been great; and yet that faith of theirs
could not have been perfect, otherwise they would not have asked the Lord to
increase it.