For the next two weeks St. Luke directs our thoughts towards prayer. Today’s Gospel, the Parable of the Persistent Widow, is about perseverance in prayer. The corrupt judge in our reading, Luke 18:1-8, delivered a just decision out of fear. God our Father responds to our prayers out of love. We cannot coerce or threaten God. Persistence in prayer is not about always getting what we want. It is, rather, about having enough faith to believe that God hears our prayers and provides what we need, when we need it in God’s time not ours.
One of the best models we have of persistence in prayer is
St. Monica. She prayed for the
conversion of her wayward and lazy son, St. Augustine, for seventeen
years. One bishop she visited told her,
“The child of those tears shall never perish.” St. Monica’s strong faith, patience and
prayerful persistence led to the conversion of her son, her husband, her
mother-in-law and many others who were inspired by her example.
The most important
verse in this Gospel is the last, “But when the Son of Man comes, will he find
faith on earth?" Is our faith
strong enough to stand the test of time?
Do we have the strength of faith to follow St. Paul’s directive to “pray
without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17)? Prayer requires discipline and
perseverance. It is a habit we must
cultivate because the more we pray the closer we come to God. More often than not when we pray our
situations don’t change but we change.
Through prayer we stand a chance of seeing the hand of God working in
our lives and then we can pray that perfect prayer “Thy will be done.”
