Persistent Prayer

Today is the Fest of St. Luke the Evangelist

Companion of St. Paul – accompanied him on his journeys, listened to his stories and from it wrote the wrote the Gospel for Gentile Christians

He also wrote the Acts of the Apostles

Gentile, convert, Physician by trade. As such, he witnessed a lot of suffering.

He wrote of: God’s Mercy; Universal salvation; love of the poor and marginalized; prayer and the Holy Spirit

From Lukes’s Gospel today, we get the story about the Widow who wants a just decision against her adversary and the judge who neither fears God nor respected any human being. 

It is a parable on the necessity to pray always without becoming weary.

When I think about examples of persistence, a few things come to mind.

Mommy and Daddy – can we have a puppy – please, please, please – I promise I will take care of it.  You won’t have to do a thing…. And then a year later I’m walking the dog in the rain wondering, how did I let this happen?

Sometimes persistence can be annoying – Driving in the car how many of us have heard from our children or grand children, “Are we there yet?”  and 15 seconds later, “Are we there yet?” 

But God is not annoyed by our persistent prayers – in fact, he encourages us “… to pray always…” Every day – pray!

In every circumstance – pray!

Before all else fails – pray!

The verse right before the first reading that we have today tells of the days in the desert where the Israelites quarreled and questioned, “Is the Lord in our midst or not?”

When we pray, God is in our midst. He is right there, sitting next to us, closer than our closet friend.

And God tells us “…to pray always without becoming weary.” 

Yet we do become weary – don’t we?

Our arms raised in prayer (like Moses) – become heavy… 

It is more than we can bear.

Our prayer list is long. 

We suffer or people close to us suffer and are in need of prayer.

Our life is full of challenges – and so we pray.

Sometimes we get weary because we feel that our prayers are not being answered.

We pray that a friend who has cancer is healed – but God chooses to take them and bring them to his side.

We pray that we get that new job and it goes to someone else.

Is God wrong? Does he not have a plan for us? It feels that way.

Sometimes God says no. God has an eternal perspective on this life of ours – a perspective that eludes us.

Sometimes God makes us wait until something inside of us changes before he grants our prayer. Sometimes we are not ready for what we have asked for from God. Sometimes God says “no” because he has something better in mind for us.

“God bless the crooked road that led me straight to you.”

I remember when I did not get that first teaching job for which I interviewed.

I remember when I did not get that first principalship for which I interviewed.

I remember when I did not get the presidency of ACES Xavier the first time I interviewed for it – I prayed for all of these, but God had a different plan.

Now, in retrospect – looking back on 35 years of ministry in Catholic education – I can say – God had a better plan. He knew when the right time for me was to make the moves that I made and each time he laid it out for me.

The key is to pray – always – to pray that we might live God’s will.

We are not going to change God’s mind – he knows best and as our loving father, has the very best plan for us.

Our mission is to pray that we might know his will for us and have the strength to live his will.

Our mission is to pray that we might use the abilities he has given us to serve him and be part of advancing the Kingdom in our little corner of the world.

And that means that sometimes we pray like Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane – “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will.”

We pray – they will be done.

Like Moses, the battle rages in front of us.

It is not easy to be a follower of Jesus today.

We live in a culture that has become increasingly hostile to Christianity.

What battle is being waged in front of us today?

It is a battle for the heart and soul of this country.

How do we know what to do?

But when we pray, we have the better of the fight.

When we get weary or too busy and we stop praying – we let our arms drop and the battle gets the best of us.

So where is the rock on which we can rest? On what can we use to support our arms in prayer?

Paul’s letter to Timothy gives some of those answers.

Our faith is our rock.

That which we have learned and believed is our rock.

We have learned it from trusted sources – some of us grew up with faith and we know it to be true.

Some of us made a mid-life conversion.

Scripture supports us in prayer.

It teaches us truth.

We learn about God’s saving plan for us – and about those who have gone before us in faith.

It is God’s instruction manual for the Christian life – BIBLE basic instructions before leaving Earth!

We strengthen our prayer when we spend time in scripture – reading and praying and seeking how we live our life in the way God wants for us.

Spending time in Scripture empowers us to be competent and equipped for every good work.

We are also supported in prayer by coming together as a community. Many of us join one another in Bible Study. There we hear different perspectives and dig deeper and deeper into the word of God. Combine that with prayer, and it can be a life-changing experience.

There is strength in our community. Each member has something to offer – gifts that come from the Holy Spirit. When the gifts we have are mutually valued and respected, when each person does their part – we build the Kingdom.

Think about this Mass – 20 or so people each have a unique role and when they do it well, all of us are brought in and the praise and worship is amplified!

The same thing happens when there is a need in our community, and we pull together to meet it.

We gather each week – here in this sacred place – where we can be supported in prayer by the presence of Jesus Christ in one another – We are the body of Christ and when we are struggling, we can be Christ for each other.

But mostly, we are strengthened in our prayer by bringing ourselves to this altar, laying our cares and concerns out here and receiving the loving presence of Jesus in Eucharist.

Supported by Eucharist and Scripture and prayer, we are strengthened to go out and continue the work – the struggle at times – of following Jesus today.

Together, then, we answer the question that Jesus asks at the end of our Gospel reading today, with a resounding “YES.”

“…when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” “YES