According to the Gospel, sometimes Jesus was filled with compassion when he saw the crowds: And seeing the multitudes, he was filled with compassion for them; because they were distressed and lying like sheep that have no shepherd (Mt 9:36). We do not know exactly how He would feel today, although it would not be very difficult to imagine.

            At that time, Jesus Christ had not yet founded His Church; by now, the Church has existed for more than twenty centuries. And yet, her situation is much more delicate than it was in those times alluded to in the Gospel: the Church of today is going through a deep crisis, undoubtedly the most serious in all her History. The Gospel states that those multitudes were distressed and lying like sheep that have no shepherd; now one could refer to the great multitude of the Faithful who are disoriented and confused, not knowing what to do or where they should go to receive some guidance in the midst of a devastated and divided Church. In addition to this, the situation is worsening, while no hope of solution seems to be appearing on the horizon; consequently, too many Christians are immersed in sadness and sometimes even in despair.

            Nevertheless, any believer knows that when no human answer to the problems is anywhere to be seen, there is the option of resorting to supernatural hope. Saint Paul says that Abraham against hope believed in hope and was not weak in the Faith (Rom 4: 18—19).

            Apropos the sadness and dejection that so many Christians are experiencing, the Apostle James offers an answer which seems to be the only effective one –and therefore, the true and definitive answer— although it is quite probable that not many people have thought of it: Is any of you sad? Let him pray (Jm 5:13). And in support of this statement, the Bible itself assures us that hope does not let us down (Rom 5:5).

            Given the enormity of the confusion and the pain which are oppressing so many good, faithful people, one may think that the Apostle James is being naïve when he advises in his Letter nothing more than the very simple remedy of prayer. Nevertheless, any Christian of good will knows intuitively that the answer to the present crisis will not come through human endeavors, but from God and only from Him.

            Unfortunately, our post-Conciliar Church no longer believes in the power of prayer; but the fact is that prayer’s infallible effectiveness is well attested to abundantly in passages of the New Testament. The Parable of The Unscrupulous Judge, for instance, begins thus: He [Jesus] spoke also a parable to them, that we ought always to pray and not to faint…(Lk 18:1); and it ends with a solemn promise, from the very mouth of Jesus Christ, which is filled with hope and consolation: And will not God see justice done to His elect who cry to him day and night? And will He have patience in their regard? I say to you that He will see justice done quickly to them (Lk 18: 7—8).

            We Christians should realize something important: We are more used to reading Jesus Christ’s words than believing them, in spite of their clarity and forcefulness: Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For every one that asks, receives; and he that seeks, finds; and to him that knocks, it shall be opened (Mt 7:7).

            The problem –if it must be considered a problem, for every period of persecution is also a time of grace—is that we modern Christians have been called to live through a very difficult stage in which our Faith has been subject to a trial by fire. Catholic Pastoral activity of the post-Conciliar era seems to have opted for a Theology centered on Man rather than God. The Devil, on his part, has made us question the validity of the Magisterium; he has also spread the feeling of hopelessness throughout most of the environment in which the faithful move. Consequently, supernatural values have yielded their primacy to a purely natural vision of the World; hence the lack of confidence in prayer and in the promises of Jesus Christ.

            Nevertheless, Jesus Christ’s words are there; and it is difficult to decide which prevails in them: the beauty of the sublime or the consolation of a firm hope:

            …But have confidence. I have overcome the World (Jn 16:33).

            Or these:

            And behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world (Mt 28:20).

            Or these:

            And the Gates of Hell –and this is a definite promise regarding the Church— shall not prevail against Her (Mt 16:18).

            In the lives of men, whether we consider their personal or public sphere, a times always comes in which their problems become so serious and the ensuing anguish so deep, that they no longer have a human solution. It is then when pain and sadness appear…although there should never be room for despair. In this regard, Saint James reminds us about the only means that a Christian can and must resort to: Is any of you sad? Let him pray.