The Most Loving Outcome

The texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary bring the opportunity to reflect on faith and prayer. The passage of the Book of Esther relates the petition of a Queen of Syria who is about to appeal for the life of the Jewish population against an edict of the Persian Emperor that they all be killed. The very action of appeal could cause her own immediate execution. Friar Jude Winkler highlights the difference between prayer through which we acquire faith and trust in the response of God that the outcome of our petitions will be the most loving option and "magic" in which we actually desire control over the Will of God. The praise of the psalmist today is to God who has responded to prayer by strengthening him to be part of the work of the Lord. In the Gospel from Matthew, Jesus exhorts us to develop the faith which trusts in prayer as the path to intimate movement toward the Way of life in which we are in accord with the Divine desire for us to be "the most loving". The Golden Rule appended to this dialogue sets the bar for our treatment of others at how we would like to be treated.  The most loving choice is to put the treatment of others at a level of generosity, mercy and kindness that we extend to ourselves. We are not satisfied with giving as good as we get.