Daily Mass Gospel Reflection- Prayerful Persistence

Word on Fire Ministry ^ | 11.12.22 | Bishop Robert Barron

[MurphsLaw]

Luke 18:1-8

Friends, today’s Gospel exhorts us to pray with persistence.
This command is everywhere in the Bible.
We see it in Abraham’s steady petition on behalf of the people of Sodom.
We see it in today’s account of the persistent widow.
We hear it in Jesus’ extraordinary teaching: “Knock and the door shall be opened to you;
seek and you will find;
ask and it will be given to you.”

One reason that we don’t receive what we want through prayer is that we give up too easily.
What could be behind this rule of prayer?
Augustine said that God sometimes delays in giving us what we want because he wants our hearts to expand.
The more ardently we desire something, the more ready we are when it comes,
the more we treasure it.
The very act of asking persistently is accomplishing something spiritually important.
So when the Lord seems slow to answer your prayer,
never give up.

[MurphsLaw]

+++Jesus told his disciples a parable
about the necessity for them to pray
always without becoming weary.
He said, “There was a judge
in a certain town
who neither feared God nor respected
any human being.
And a widow in that town used to
come to him and say,
‘Render a just decision for me
against my adversary.’
For a long time the judge was
unwilling, but eventually he thought,
‘While it is true that I neither
fear God nor respect any human being,
because this widow keeps bothering me
I shall deliver a just decision for her
lest she finally come and strike me.’”
The Lord said, “Pay attention to
what the dishonest judge says.
Will not God then secure the rights
of his chosen ones
who call out to him day and night?
Will he be slow to answer them?
I tell you, he will see to it that
justice is done for them speedily.
But when the Son of Man comes,
will he find faith on earth?”+++