Yesterday Jacob had a dream in which he experienced a stairway to heaven and a promise of future prosperity.  In today's reading Jacob actually engages in a wrestling match with an angel.  The contest lasts all night, and at dawn, still undefeated but disabled, Jacob receives a new name because of his victory.  Can we learn anything from Jacob that will strengthen our life of faith, our prayer life?  I think we can.  Sometimes in prayer we receive fresh insight, a new vision, the dream of tomorrow as the dawning of a new day.  That is the time to rest, to relish the gift of God, to be grateful for the consolation, and even to climb the stairway to heaven.

But, much more often, prayer is a struggle, a contest, a trial.  We have to wrestle with distractions, with darkness, with dryness, with illusions, and with temptations, especially the temptation to give up.  But, if we remain faithful, if we persevere, if we remain at the table of dialogue with God, we will be richly rewarded, and, like Jacob, we will be given the strength to continue our journey of faith, our quest, our passover to the promised land.  Notice that it was when he had dared to cross over the river that Jacob prevailed in the contest with the heavenly being and received a new name.  For us, too, it is when we dare to enter new territory, make new decisions, begin anew, that we are called to contend with God.  Just as in a good marriage how we deal with conflict is so critical to the success of the covenant, so, too, in our partnership with God, how faithfully we struggle is essential to the bond that draws us closer and closer to God in the New Covenant.  "Seeing God face to face," is not ours to achieve, but it is ours to choose again and again and again.  Then what we could never possibly realize and can scarcely even dream of possessing is given to us!

How is such good fortune possible?  Grace is what we name this unbelievable gift.  "Grace" because it is pure gift, absolutely and perfectly gratuitous.  "Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel," the people say of Jesus in today's Gospel.  And that is true.  Who could have guessed or even in her wildest dreams fathomed God's love for  us?  It's all right there in that same reading, the source of our incredible luck, the unbelievable good news:  at the sight of us, "his heart was moved with pity."  Jesus, the Compassion of God, calls each of us by name out of our lassitude and misery ("lying prostrate from exhaustion") into the brightness and dynamism of intimacy with God.  Just listen carefully and quietly in your heart and you will hear him say:  "Come to me all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and gentle of heart, and you will find rest for yourselves.  For my yoke is easy and my burden light."

Dearly beloved daughters and sons of the living God, my sisters and brothers in Christ, let us remain together at the table of God's superabundant love!