Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, Religious (Memorial)
Pray always. (Luke 18:1)
Persistence pays off. It pays off when we struggle to learn a new skill. It pays off when we stay on a diet. And it paid off for the widow in Jesus’ parable: eventually, the corrupt judge ruled in her favor.
Jesus told this parable to encourage us to persist in praying, even when we don’t see immediate results. He promises that our persistence will ultimately pay off—sometimes in ways we might not be aware of. Here are a few ways that happens:
First, the more time we spend in prayer, the more open we become to God’s grace—grace that can change our hearts. When you develop the habit of faithfully praying for something, God can use that time to form you. As you open yourself to his love and mercy (a good definition of prayer), your heart softens, and you start to see things from God’s perspective, not yours. You develop a heavenly vision that helps lift up and reshape your earthly vision.
That leads to another effect of persistent prayer. If you don’t get the answer you’re looking for, you’ll be less likely to see it as a failure on God’s part. Instead of wondering why God isn’t listening to you, you start to listen to him. This disposition of listening helps you better understand what you are praying for. It gives you new insights that might even shift the way you are praying.
Finally, when you “pray always,” your focus shifts from the problem at hand to the God whose hands are always open. And so you are better able to let go of the situation and let God handle it.
God is neither deaf nor disinterested. He hears all our prayers. His ears and his heart are always open toward us. This wonderful truth tells us that we can call on his name any time we need to—even to the point of “wearing him out” with our prayers. And our prayers don’t have to be eloquent. “Jesus, please heal my husband.” “Father, I turn to you—bring my daughter back to you!” That’s all you need to say.
As you pray this way, imagine Jesus listening intently to you with a look of concern and love on his face. Let him convince you that he is answering your prayers in his way and according to his plan.
So pray persistently! Let your prayers change the people around you—and your heart as well.
“Lord, hear our prayer!”
3 John 5-8
Psalm 112:1-6
Saint Augustine (354-430)
Bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and Doctor of the Church
Sermon 115, 1 ; PL 38, 655 (©Friends of Henry Ashworth)
"But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"
What more powerful incentive to prayer could be proposed to us than the parable of the unjust judge? An unprincipled man, without fear of God or regard for other people, that judge nevertheless ended by granting the widow's petition. No kindly sentiment moved him to do so; he was rather worn down by her pestering. Now if a man can grant a request even when it is odious to him to be asked, how can we be refused by the one who urges us to ask? Having persuaded us, therefore, by a comparison of opposites that “we ought always to pray and never lose heart,” the Lord goes on to put the question: “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, do you think he will find faith on earth?”
Where there is no faith, there is no prayer. Who would pray for something he did not believe in? So when the blessed Apostle exhorts us to pray he begins by declaring: “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” But to show that faith is the source of prayer and the stream will not flow if its springs are dried up, he continues: “But how can people call on him in whom they do not believe?” (Rom 10:13-14). We must believe, then, in order to pray; and we must ask God that the faith enabling us to pray may not fail. Faith gives rise to prayer, and this prayer obtains an increase of faith.