Catholic Commentary on Judith 4

"The Israelites cried out to the Lord their God, for their courage failed, because all their enemies had surrounded them and there was no way of escape from them." (Judith 4:2)

Israel Prepares to Resist

Israel hears about Holofernes with great terror. They send to Samaria and the hill country and Jerusalem with warnings. The high priest Joakim writes to the hill towns to seize the mountain passes. The Israelites do as Joakim says. All the men of Israel cry mightily to God; they put on sackcloth and fasted. The women also fast and pray. Even the children prostrate themselves before the sanctuary. The Israelites cried out to the Lord their God, for their courage failed, because all their enemies had surrounded them and there was no way of escape from them. The Lord hears their prayers. The Catechism identifies the communal fasting and prayer of Israel in Judith as the practice of penitential prayer in the face of mortal danger: the whole community united in the posture of supplication (CCC 2043).

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, their courage failed and they prayed. The courage that fails and leads to prayer is more productive than the courage that does not fail but does not pray. The community that prostrates itself before God when surrounded with no escape is the community that will receive a way out from the most unexpected direction.

Prayer

Lord God, our courage fails. We are surrounded and there is no way of escape. We cry out to you. Hear us as you heard Israel. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

4
1 Then the children of Israel, who dwelt in the land of Juda, hearing these things, were exceedingly afraid of him. 2 Dread and horror seized upon their minds, lest he should do the same to Jerusalem and to the temple of the Lord, that he had done to other cities and their temples. 3 And they sent into all Samaria round about, as far as Jericho, and seized upon all the tops of the mountains: 4 And they compassed their towns with walls, and gathered together corn for provision for war. 5 And Eliachim the priest wrote to all that were over against Esdrelon, which faceth the great plain near Dothain, and to all by whom there might be a passage of way, that they should take possession of the ascents of the mountains, by which there might be any way to Jerusalem, and should keep watch where the way was narrow between the mountains. 6 And the children of Israel did as the priest of the Lord Eliachim had appointed them, 7 And all the people cried to the Lord with great earnestness, and they humbled their souls in fastings, and prayers, both they and their wives. 8 And the priests put on haircloths, and they caused the little children to lie prostrate before the temple of the Lord, and the altar of the Lord they covered with haircloth. 9 And they cried to the Lord the God of Israel with one accord, that their children might not be made a prey, and their wives carried off, and their cities destroyed, and their holy things profaned, and that they might not be made a reproach to the Gentiles. 10 Then Eliachim the high priest of the Lord went about all Israel and spoke to them, 11 Saying: Know ye that the Lord will hear your prayers, if you continue with perseverance in fastings and prayers in the sight of the Lord. 12 Remember Moses the servant of the Lord, who overcame Amalec that trusted in his own strength, and in his power, and in his army, and in his shields, and in his chariots, and in his horsemen, not by fighting with the sword, but by holy prayers: 13 So shall all the enemies of Israel be, if you persevere in this work which you have begun. 14 So they being moved by this exhortation of his, prayed to the Lord, and continued in the sight of the Lord. 15 So that even they who offered the holocausts to the Lord, offered the sacrifices to the Lord girded with haircloths, and with ashes upon their head. 16 And they all begged of God with all their heart, that he would visit his people Israel.

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