A ship was wrecked during a storm at sea and only two of the men on it were able to swim to a small desert like island. The two survivors, not knowing what else to do, agreed that they have no other recourse but to pray to God for help.
However, to find out whose prayer was more powerful, they decided to divide the territory between them and stay on opposite sides of the island.
The first man prayed for a ship, so that he could leave the island. In the morning, he found a ship docked on his side of the island. The first man boarded the ship and decided to leave the second man on the island. He considered the other man unworthy to receive God's blessings, since his prayers had not been answered.
As the ship was about to leave, the first man heard a voice from heaven boom-out, "Why are you leaving your companion on the island?"
"My blessings are mine alone, since I was the one who prayed for this," the first man answered. "His prayer was unanswered and so he does not deserve anything."
"You are mistaken!" the voice rebuked him. "He had only one prayer, which I answered. If not for that, you would not have received my blessings."
"Tell me," the first man asked the voice, "what did he pray for that I should owe him anything?"
"He prayed that your prayer would be answered."
In our Gospel, people ridiculed Jesus shouting, “He saved others; He cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the king of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” They thought Jesus was unfortunate as he was helpless being crucified on the cross. They thought God never heard the prayers of Jesus who claimed to be the son of God. They never realized that Jesus suffered not because His prayers were not answered by God; rather Jesus suffered to answer God’s call to save all men. He endured everything to teach us what the word “sacrifice” means. It is making one’s suffering an offering to God for the sake of men’s salvation. When he died on the cross, His sacrifice did not end there. It was transformed into a “sacrament” where everybody has an access to meet and receive Him (Jesus) who died for us. Now, all of us have an access to God, our prayers will be answered by God because Jesus Himself is on our side. We can say that through the passion of Christ, God hears our prayer. Today, we are reminded in this Holy Eucharist to offer too all our pains for the purification of mankind, an act of sacrifice on our part and encourage us to help people in their suffering. We are called to be wounded healers in our community. We look after the spiritual needs of others being their intercessors before God that their prayers as well as our prayers for them would be answered. Amen.
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