Caput XL
Why God Delays Hearing the Afflicted
Odo explains that the prayers of the afflicted are sometimes delayed because of the guilt of their oppressors, yet God permits oppression to refine the righteous and to bring His power to light through miraculous deliverance.
So something more should be said about why prayers are sometimes delayed: when the afflicted cry out, they often deserve to be heard on their own account, yet their prayers are held back because of the guilt of their oppressors, as it is written: They will cry out and he will not hear, because of the pride of the wicked (Job 35:9) — as if to say, the guilt of persecutors keeps the afflicted from being heard.✦ For the just and merciful God both allows his own to be oppressed for a time and lets the wickedness of the violent grow enormously, so that while the life of the righteous is refined through purification, the wickedness of those people may reach its full measure. For the most part, when the faithful are caught in tribulation they even receive heavenly comfort in the midst of it, so that when almighty God frees them by some miracle, his power becomes known even to their persecutors themselves, and from there he may redeem adversaries for eternity even as he saves his own for a time.
Prayer for the Sake of Enemies
Drawing on the Psalmist's cry for rescue, Odo shows that the faithful may pray for deliverance not for themselves but so that their enemies, moved by visible miracles, may be converted — though divine power is often withheld because oppressors do not deserve to be enlightened.
This is what the Prophet says: Rescue me from my enemies.✦ (Psalm 68:19). As if he were saying: It is not for my own sake that I seek to be rescued from temporal tribulation, but for the sake of my enemies I long to be rescued, so that when they see me saved in a miraculous way, they may be turned from their hardness by the very sight of the miracle. For those who are not held fast by faith in invisible things are sometimes moved by visible miracles. But for this reason divine power is for the most part not exercised over the afflicted, because — as was said above — their oppressors do not deserve to be enlightened.
Perseverance in Hope and the Surpassing Gift of God
Odo exhorts the weary not to abandon hope for mercy amid prolonged tribulation, noting that the tested are heard more readily, and that God — who gives beyond what we ask — often withholds because our disordered desires lead us to pray against our own good.
So whether tribulation is prolonged because of our adversaries or to test our patience, let us not grow weary of hoping for mercy, because the desire for good things is proved precisely when it meets with some adversity. But those who have been tested are heard all the more readily — that is, the Psalmist teaches that testing and being heard take place amid distress, saying: I heard you in the hidden place of the storm (Psalm 80:8).✦ That is, among the waves of affliction I tested you at the water of contradiction.✦ Moreover, as blessed Jerome relates in his second letter to the Ephesians, people ask for things according to their weakness — whatever seems advantageous to them. But as far as the truth of the matter itself is concerned, it is clear that God gives more than is asked, and that our prayers are overcome by our disordered affections, because we do not know how we ought to pray, and often we ask for things against our own good while supposing them to be for our benefit.✦
Read the original Latin
Ut autem de protelatione precum adhuc aliquid dicatur, cum afflicti clamant, ex se quidem saepe merentur audiri, sed tamen corum preces ob meritum differuntur opprimentium, ut scriptum est: Clamabunt et non exaudiet propter superbiam malorum (Job XXXV, 9); ac si diceret: Reatus persecutorum prohibet ne afflicti exaudiantur. Justus quippe et misericors Deus et suos permittit temporaliter opprimi, et violentorum nequitiam immaniter augeri, ut dum justorum vita purgatione teritur, illorum nequitia compleatur. Plerumque enim fideles in tribulatione deprehensi supernum solatium etiam temporaliter in tribulatione percipiunt, ut dum illos omnipotens Deus facto aliquo miraculo liberat, virtutem suam ipsis etiam persecutoribus innotescit, ut inde adversarios in aeternum redimat unde suos temporaliter salvat. Unde Propheta ait: Propter inimicos meos eripe me (Psal. LXVIII, 19). Quasi diceret: Propter me quidem eripi de temporali tribulatione non appeto, sed tamen eripi propter inimicos concupisco, ut dum me salvari mirabiliter viderint, ipso miraculi visu a sua duritia convertantur. Nam qui invisibilium fide non tenentur, moveri nonnunquam visibilibus miraculis solent. Sed idcirco super afflictos divina virtus plerumque non agitur, quoniam, ut supra dictum est, afflictores eorum illuminari non merentur.
Sive igitur propter adversarios nostros, sive propter patientiae nostrae probationem tribulatio protendatur, a speranda misericordia non lassemur, quia tunc probabitur desiderium bonorum cum aliqua adversitate eis resistitur. Probati vero melius exaudiuntur, quam videlicet probationem atque exauditionem inter angustias fieri Psalmista docet, dicens: Exaudivi te in abscondito tempestatis (Psal. LXXX, 8), id est, inter fluctus afflictionum probavi te apud aquam contradictionis. Caeterum, ut beatus Hieronymus in epistola ad Ephesios secunda perhibet, juxta imbecillitatem homines postulant, quae eis conducibilia videntur. At vero quantum ad rei ipsius pertinet veritatem, plus Deum tribuere constat quam rogatur, et preces nostras vinci affectibus, quia secundum id quod oportet orare nescimus, et saepe contra nos petimus aestimantes esse pro nobis.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Job.35.9 — Because of the abundance of oppression, they cry out; they call for help from the arm of the many.
- ↩Ps.68.19 — You ascended on high; you led captivity captive; you received gifts among people — even from the rebellious — so that Yah, God, might dwell there.
- ↩Ps.80.8 — God of hosts, restore us; make your face shine, and we shall be saved.
- ↩Ps.80.8 — God of hosts, restore us; make your face shine, and we shall be saved.
- ↩Rom.8.26 — In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words.
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