Pope Benedict XVI: Abraham offers Humanity The First Example of Intercessory Prayer

To treat the guilty like the innocent is to apply a 'higher justice' This is the gift of God to the sinner

"Forgiveness is a high-point of Christian prayer; only hearts attuned to God's compassion can receive the gift of prayer. Forgiveness also bears witness that, in our world, love is stronger than sin. The martyrs of yesterday and today bear this witness to Jesus."

VATICAN CITY (Catholic Online) - On Wednesday Pope Benedict XVI continued his catechesis on prayer, a universal human phenomenon, by reflecting on a biblical theme "that will guide us to deepen the dialogue of covenant between God and humanity that animates the history of salvation until its fullness . . . in Christ."

In addressing the faithful present in St. Peter's square as well as others around the world, the Pope explained that the great patriarch Abraham, "the father of all believers," offered humanity the first example of intercessory prayer.

The Pope recalled how God had confided in Abraham that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were to be destroyed "because of the wickedness of their inhabitants." The Patriarch, faced with the knowledge of the forthcoming divine retribution, "did not limit himself to asking for the salvation of the innocent but also implored forgiveness for the entire city, appealing to God's justice," a divine justice that "seeks the good and creates it by means of a forgiveness that transforms the sinners, converting and saving them.

"Abraham's thought, [which] seems almost paradoxical," continued the Pope, "can be summarized thus: of course the innocent cannot be treated like the guilty, that would be unjust; instead the guilty need to be treated as the innocent, applying a 'higher' justice, offering them the possibility of salvation because, if the evildoers accept God's forgiveness and confess their blame, letting themselves be saved, they will not continue doing evil but will also become just, no longer needing to be punished."

We might ask how evildoers who accept God's forgiveness and confess their sins, and allow themselves to be saved, will refrain from doing evil? Also, how is it that acceptance of forgiveness translates to confession? Last, what is it about letting ourselves be saved that transforms us into people of justice who no longer need to be punished? 

The answers to these questions are inseparably bound up in the mystery of repentance and conversion as an encounter with -- and wholehearted response to -- God's life-giving grace. If we are to accept God's gift of forgiveness, it is necessary to first acknowledge our sin. This acknowledgment is a radical encounter with what we have done, how we have acted, and how we have offended our God who has constantly extended his immeasurable love to his People. It is to not only recognize but actually experience the misery of our sin; it is to clearly understand that we have offended God in an infinite way. In this new clarity, which is a grace from the Holy Spirit, we are struck in the very depths of our being: our whole self is then reoriented toward love.

Blessed John Paul II offers further insight into the mystery of penance and reconciliation: "To acknowledge one's sin, indeed -- penetrating still more deeply into the consideration of one's own personhood -- to recognize oneself as being a sinner, capable of sin and inclined to commit sin, is the essential first step in returning to God.

"In effect, to become reconciled with God presupposes and includes detaching oneself consciously and with determination from the sin into which one has fallen. It presupposes and includes, therefore, doing penance in the fullest sense of the term: repenting, showing this repentance, adopting a real attitude of repentance -- which is the attitude of the person who starts out on the road of return to the Father" (Reconciliatio et Paenitentia 13).

Pope Benedict emphasized that "forgiveness breaks the spiral of sin." He also noted that "Abraham, in his dialogue with God, asks exactly for that [forgiveness]." Through Abraham's "intercession, his prayer to God for the salvation of the others, he demonstrates and expresses the desire for salvation that God always nurtures for the sinner."

The Pope explained, however, that "evil cannot be accepted. It must be pointed out and destroyed through punishment. The destruction of Sodom had precisely this function. The Lord, however, did not wish the death of the wicked but that they convert and live: His desire is always to forgive, to save, to give life, and to transform evil into good."

It is precisely God's unceasing desire "to forgive, to save," and "to give life" that we recognize so abundantly in the Paschal Mystery of our Lord Jesus. The Son of God, sent by the Father, has clearly demonstrated the unlimited nature of God's love and concern for his children. There are no words to describe the gifts of love God has showered upon us: a love so great that the eternal Word chose to assume a human body and thus suffer an agonizing death for our sake. Yet how do we break the constraints of evil in order that we may begin to see and understand the blinding light of Christ's love? It begins with the Spirit who reveals Christ to us. However, it is necessary for us to give ourselves over entirely to him in response.

The Pope stressed that "a transformation from within is necessary, a pretext for good, a beginning of what sets in motion the transformation from evil into good, hatred into love, and vengeance into forgiveness."

Moving from Abraham's prayer of intercession to the inauguration of the New Covenant, our Holy Father noted that "God's mercy in the history of his people extends even further. . . . The infinite and surprising love of God will be made fully manifest when the Son of God becomes man, the definitive Just One, the perfect Innocent who will bring salvation to the entire world with His death on the cross, forgiving and interceding for those who 'know not what they do.' Then, each person's daily prayer will find its answer, then all our intercessions will be fully granted."

Pope Benedict XVI ended by asking that "the prayer of Abraham, our father in the faith, teach us to open our hearts more and more to God's overabundant mercy, so that in our daily prayer we might know how to desire the salvation of humanity and to ask for it with perseverance and with confidence in the Lord who is great in love."

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F. K. Bartels is a Catholic writer who knows the Catholic Faith is one of the greatest gifts a man could ever have. He is a contributing writer for Catholic Online. Visit him also at catholicpathways.com

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