“God renews his promise to Jacob, the ancestor of the twelve tribes of Israel. Before confronting his elder brother Esau, Jacob wrestles all night with a mysterious figure who refuses to reveal his name, but he blesses him before leaving him at dawn. From this account, the spiritual tradition of the Church has retained the symbol of prayer as a battle of faith, and as the triumph of perseverance.“
Catechism of the Catholic Church, par. 2573
“The Church‘s spiritual tradition has seen in this story a symbol of prayer as a faith-filled struggle which takes place at times in darkness, calls for perseverance, and is crowned by interior renewal and God‘s blessing. This struggle demands our unremitting effort, yet ends by surrender to God‘s mercy and gift.“
Pope Benedict XVI
“Any one of you who is in trouble should pray, anyone in good spirits should sing a psalm. (…) The prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise up the sick person, and any sins committed will be forgiven. So confess your sins to one another and pray for one another to be cured; the prayer of the righteous works powerfully. Elijah was a human being as frail as ourselves – he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and no rain fell for three and a half years; then he prayed again and the sky gave rain and the earth produced its fruit.“
James 5: 15-18
Jacob the warrior in prayer
It is a decisive and defining moment when the patriarch Jacob receives a new name, a new identity: the name and identity of the people of God, Israel. But what is the meaning of this mysterious name?
Israel is often translated as meaning “he who prevails with God“ or as “he who struggles with God“ (from the Hebrew sarah), but also as “a man seeing God“ (from the Hebrew ish (man) – ra (see) – el (God)).
All these various meanings are echoed in the biblical story of Jacob‘s plight throughout the darkness of the night until the break of dawn:
“He remained alone: and behold a man wrestled with him till morning. And when he saw that he could not overcome him, he touched the sinew of his thigh, and forthwith it shrank. And he said to him: Let me go, for it is break of day. He answered: I will not let thee go except thou bless me. And he said: What is thy name? He answered: Jacob. But he said: Thy name shall not be called Jacob, but Israel: for if thou hast been strong against God, how much more shalt thou prevail against men? Jacob asked him, Tell me by what name art thou called? He answered: Why dost thou ask my name? And he blessed him in the same place. And Jacob called the name of the place Phanuel, saying: I have seen God face to face, and my soul has been saved. And immediately the sun rose upon him, after he was past Phanuel; but he halted on his foot.“
Genesis 32: 24-31
In his struggle with God during the night of this life until the dawn of the next, Jacob is wounded. Limping he enters the new day. And Jacob is blessed: blessed by encountering God one on one and by receiving his identity and his reward from Him alone.
Why is the smooth-skinned Jacob, “a quiet man, staying among the tents“ (Gen 25: 27) God‘s chosen one – the ancestor of the “Israel of God“ (Gal 6: 16) – instead of the hairy Esau, the “skilled hunter, a man of the open country“ (Gen 25: 27)?
Jacob the pilgrim
“‘There are two nations in your womb, and two peoples will be divided from your womb. One nation will be stronger than the other, and the elder will serve the younger.‘“
Genesis 25: 23
Isn‘t it because of Jacob‘s desire, his passion, his striving for his Father‘s blessing, and his willingness to labor arduously year after year for gaining the prize of beautiful Rachel, while his older brother Esau represents sloth and self-sufficiency, always merely choosing the lentil soup in front of his eyes and as a wife one from among the Canaanite women living next door? This is how Saint Louis de Montfort expounds on the way of life Esau stands for:
“They (i.e. those who follow Esau’s example) sell it (i.e. their birthright: the pleasures of paradise) for a pottage of lentils; that is to say, for the pleasures of the earth. They laugh, they drink, they eat, they amuse themselves, they gamble, they dance, and take no more pains than Esau did to render themselves worthy of the benediction of their Heavenly Father. In a word, they think only of earth, and they love earth only; and they speak and act only for earth and for its pleasures, selling for one moment of enjoyment, for one vain puff of honour, and for a morsel of hard metal, yellow or white, their baptismal grace, their robe of innocence, and their heavenly inheritance.“
Saint Louis de Montfort: Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin
Paradoxically, though Esau is introduced as the “man of the open country“, always out and about, while Jacob is the man “staying among the tents“ close to his mother Rebekah, the true pilgrim who is willing to risk everything in obedience, who encounters the God of his forefathers along the way, is in fact Jacob:
“Then Isaac sent Jacob away, and Jacob went to Paddan-Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramaean and brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau. So Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-Aram to take a wife for himself from there, and that in blessing him he had given him this order: ‘You are not to choose a wife from the Canaanite women,‘ and that, in obedience to his father and mother, Jacob had gone to Paddan-Aram. (…)
Genesis 28: 5-22
Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. When he had reached a certain place, he stopped there for the night, since the sun had set. He took one of the stones of that place, made it his pillow and lay down where he was. He had a dream: there was a ladder, planted on the ground with its top reaching to heaven; and on it were God‘s angels, going up and down. And there was the LORD, standing over him and saying, ‘I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. The ground on which you are lying I shall give to you and your descendants. Your descendants will be as the dust on the ground; you will spread out to west and east, to north and south, and all families on earth will bless themselves by you and your descendants. And see, I am with you; I shall keep you safe wherever you go, and bring you back to this land, for I shall not desert you until I have done what I have promised you.‘ Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Truly, the LORD is in this place and I did not know!‘ He was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place! It is none other than the abode of God; it is the gate of heaven!‘ Early next morning, Jacob took the stone he had used for his pillow, and set it up as a pillar, pouring oil over the top of it. He named the place Bethel, but originally the town had been called Luz. Jacob then made this vow, ‘If God remains with me and keeps me safe on this journey I am making, if he gives me food to eat and clothes to wear, and if I come home safe to my father‘s home, then the LORD shall be my God. This stone that I have set up as a pillar shall be a house of God, and I shall faithfully pay you a tenth part of everything you give me.‘“
This reading is part of the liturgy of the Holy Mass for pilgrims and travelers. With Jacob being the prototype of the pilgrim setting out on a journey to gain a great prize, it is interesting to remember that his namesake Saint James the Great is the patron saint of pilgrims.
Jacob, and thus with Him the “Israel of God“ (Gal. 6: 16), is a warrior in prayer and a pilgrim. Thirdly, the Church Fathers have seen in “Jacob‘s ladder“ linking heaven and earth both an image of Jesus and of Mary. Saint Louis de Montfort viewed Jacob as a template of those devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Jacob devoted to his Mother
Just like Jacob attained his father‘s blessing with the help of Rebekah, so the devotees of Mary receive God‘s blessings through her motherly hands:
“He (Jacob) was of a feeble constitution, meek and peaceful. He lived for the most part at home, in order to gain the good graces of his mother Rebecca, whom he loved tenderly. If he went abroad, it was not of his own will, nor through any confidence in his own industry, but to obey his mother.
Saint Louis de Montfort: Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin
He loved and honoured his mother. It was on this account that he kept at home. He avoided every thing which could displease her, and did every thing which he thought would please her; and this increased the love which Rebecca already had for him.
He was subject in all things to his dear mother. He obeyed her entirely in all matters,—promptly, without delaying, and lovingly, without complaining. At the least token of her will, the little Jacob ran and worked; and he believed every thing she said to him. For example: when she told him to fetch two kids, and that he should fetch them in order that she should prepare something for his father Isaac to eat, Jacob did not reply that one was enough to make a dish for a single man, but without reasoning he did what she told him to do.
He had a great confidence in his dear mother. As he did not lean in the least on his own ability, he leant exclusively on the care and protection of his mother. He appealed to her in all his necessities, and consulted her in all his doubts. For example: when he asked if instead of a blessing, he should not receive a curse from his father, he believed her and trusted her, when she said that she would take the curse upon herself.“
When Jacob was renamed Israel, this mysterious name of Israel became the designation and “identity card“ for the chosen people of God. As one can glean from the life of Jacob the patriarch, this “Israel of God“ is a nation of persistent prayer; a nation zealous and passionate in holy desire and devotion, ablaze with the fire of charity, not minding getting wounded as it follows Christ on the way of the cross for all desired blessings are to be found along this way; it is a pilgrim people; finally it is a nation clinging to the protection of her Queen.
Saint Jacob, holy patriarch, pray for us!
“Abraham, the great ancestor of a host of nations – no one was ever his equal in glory. He observed the Law of the Most High and entered into a covenant with him. He confirmed the covenant in his own flesh and proved himself faithful under ordeal. The Lord therefore promised him on oath to bless the nations through his descendants, to multiply him like the dust of the earth, to exalt his descendants like the stars and to give them the land as their heritage from one sea to the other, from the River to the ends of the earth. To Isaac too, for the sake of Abraham his father, he assured the blessing of all humanity; he caused the covenant to rest on the head of Jacob. He confirmed him in his blessings and gave him the land as his inheritance; he divided it into portions and shared it out among twelve tribes.“
Ecclesiasticus (Jesus ben Sirach) 44: 19-23; 50: 22-24
“And now bless the God of all things, the doer of great deeds everywhere, who has exalted our days from the womb and has acted mercifully towards us. May he grant us cheerful hearts and bring peace in our time, in Israel for ages on ages. May his mercy be faithfully with us; may he deliver us in our own times!“
Postscriptum: Mount Carmel
The 16th July is the feast day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Tradition has it that the Holy Family at times used to travel from Nazareth to Mount Carmel on the Mediterranean coast, near today‘s city of Haifa, visiting the hermits who lived there in the mountains‘ caves. These hermits were following in the footsteps of the prophets Elijah and Elisha, Mount Carmel being the site where the contest between the God of Israel and Baal, between the prophet Elijah and the prophets of Baal had taken place.
“Ahab called all the Israelites together and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. (…) At the time when the offering is presented, Elijah the prophet stepped forward, saying, ‘O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let them know today that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, that I have done all these things at your command. Answer me, LORD, answer me, so that this people may know that you, LORD, are God and are winning back their hearts.‘ Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and even the water in the trench. When all the people saw this they fell on their faces and cried, ‘The LORD is God, the LORD is God!‘“
1 Kings 18: 20; 36-39
It is said that on the holy feast of Pentecost these hermits from Mount Carmel acknowledged the truth of the gospel the holy Apostles were preaching to the Jews gathered in Jerusalem and joined the young Church. From then on, they especially venerated the Blessed Virgin Mary who according to the interpretative tradition was prefigured in the cloud that rose from the sea when the prophet Elijah prayed on Mount Carmel for an end of the drought. They built on Mount Carmel a chapel to honor her, and thus the order of the Carmelites was born.
“(…) and Elijah went up to the top of Carmel and bowed down to the ground, putting his face between his knees. He said to his servant, ‘Get up and look out to sea.‘ He went up and looked and said, ‘There is nothing at all.‘ Seven times Elijah told him to go back. The seventh time, the servant said, ‘There is a cloud, small as a man‘s hand, rising from the sea.‘“
1 Kings 18: 42-44
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us! Our Lady, Star of the Sea, pray for us!