A religious from Europe active in missionary work in Zambia at a hospital and orphanage and more recently in the Ukraine, shared yesterday at Mass about a four-day ordeal he had in a basement of an apartment building in which 13 children were hiding after being wounded by a Russian missile. Though he was able to help because of his work in Zambia, it was through perseverance in prayer that helped him and the children to cope with what happened and how they will be able to face an uncertain future. This incident brings our Gospel and readings this weekend to life and hopefully us in how we live as practicing Catholics.
We are bombarded daily with newscasts and social media about how difficult life is and can be for many. Experts in all kinds of situations offer reasons why we suffer life problems and even some possible solutions of how to cope or even change things for the better. Ultimately, we need to make decisions that will improve our fate. How we go about that in our thoughts, words and actions will determine, usually in short order, if this is a positive approach or will lead to worse outcomes. Often, the steps we take are predicated on solving a particular happenstance, which may or may not affect other parts in our life for better or worse. If it is for the worse, we often give up and live with whatever will happen; good or bad.
In our first reading from Exodus, Moses decides to fight the fiercest fighters of that time by going to God for help and adopting the ancient posture of prayer by holding his hands up high. In doing so, God accepts Moses’ prayer for victory because he persevered until the battle was over and the Israelites won. As Jesus says at the end of St. Luke’s Gospel today, “I tell you, God will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.”
St. Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy further supports perseverance in
faith when he writes: “…from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures,
which are capable of giving you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ
Jesus.” He concludes this passage of his
letter when he writes: “…be persistent whether it is convenient or
inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and
teaching.”
As the Order of Prayer tells us: “Through incessant prayer, we open ourselves more fully to understanding God’s will. Through faith in the power of prayer, we experience God’s love and assistance. Our Christian life is nourished by the scriptures we read and by our received tradition.” This is why we must be faithful in persevering all facets of our life by communicating with God through prayer.
If we don’t, we face losing hope because we can’t or won’t believe anyone or anything can help us in our time of need. It is in these prayers of petition from the first reading and from the Gospel parable that we put ourselves before God and submit to Him totally. We must never grow weary. God knows what we need, but needs to hear us in prayer as a sign of our trust and belief of all that He offers.
Let us take this week to both contemplate and meditate on our relationship with God through prayer. Are we consistent and persistent in sharing with God about our life (even though He knows all) so we can live our promise of love to God as He does with us always? If we can answer yes to this question, we are on the path of perseverance in all we do in our lives of faithfulness to God. And, in time, we will learn to always seek God first. He has all the answers we need.
Reading 1: Exodus 17: 8-13
Reading 2: Second Timothy 3: 14 – 4: 2
Gospel: Luke 18: 1-8
No comments:
Post a Comment