Reflection on June 27, 1984 – (Paragraphs 1-2)

https://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/jp2tb111.htm

In looking at Tobias’s prayer, SJPII looks at 2 distinct things involved. First, the idea of calling his bride his sister; and second the attitudes of the 2 people giving advice or offering prayers for the couple. The sister aspect takes us right back to Song of Songs. This person that you are taking as your bride is your Eve. She is one like you, a helper, yet different than you. We discussed this more in the sections on Song of Songs.

The second idea is the one that sparked interest for me. The father of the bride offers prayers for the couple. He offers them a farewell and seeks God’s intercession. He calls on mercy for Tobias. He has seen 7 other suitors come and marry his daughter and all of them have died on the wedding night. He seems to have little hope that Tobias will survive and, therefore, what he seeks is mercy on the young man about to die.

Raphael, on the other hand, offers prayers of hope. He tells Tobias to pray and not to worry. There is a complete confidence that this is all meant to be and that God will save Tobias and he will not be harmed. There is no advice of seeking mercy, only confidence in God that things will be fine. Hope abounds in Raphael.

This got me thinking about how we approach dire situations, even if we have God, are prayerful. We can go into them two different ways. We can believe that the worst will happen or we can hope for the best. I was thinking of Daniel and the Lions. You don’t get the sense that Daniel ever prayed for God’s mercy or said the prayers you would say on death’s doorstep. He doesn’t seek forgiveness because he is about to die. He goes into the lion’s den with complete confidence that God will save him, complete trust that he will survive.

It seems there is a line there that I am not clear on personally. When something comes up, do I pray for mercy because the situation is dire, or do I pray with hope that the situation will just change or not happen? I know several people dealing with cancer now and I wonder about praying for mercy or praying with hope. I also wonder if you pray with such faith and hope for a miracle, like Daniel walking into the den, like Raphael told Tobias, “not to worry”, does the mercy take care of itself if the miracle doesn’t happen. Or, if you pray with such confidence in the miracle, when it doesn’t happen, are you shattered? Where is that line, where is that balance, when do you pray for mercy, when do you focus all your faith in the miracle? I don’t know if SJPII was hoping for that type of thinking, but I have never thought about that difference until I thought about the two attitudes of the father and Raphael.