In today’s Gospel Jesus exhorts his disciples “to pray always and not to lose heart.”
How do we define “pray always.” When we pray we are having a conversation with God. Pray always doesn’t mean we have to pray 24 hours a day. We pray to maintain a close relationship with the Lord. This is so as not to be influenced by the wickedness and snares of the adversary. Satan will do everything in his power to draw us into the darkness of sin and away from the light of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ.
In Luke 11:1-4, one of the disciples asks Jesus to teach them how to pray. Jesus answers, “When you pray,” say what we know today as the Lord’s Prayer. This is the first prayer of all prayers. The “Our Father” may be said many times throughout the course of our day. Like the disciples, our lack of prayer can lead to discouragement. This happens with everyone – from great saints, you, and me. We all struggle with this. We all get dismayed in life. God never promised an easy life for us. His promise is that He will always be with us. We take great comfort in His promise to us.
In our Gospel, we have two distinct characters. A widow who represents the vulnerable and powerless. Also, a judge who is impatient, doesn’t fear God and has little respect for mankind. The widow is persistent in appearing before the judge asking for justice for her adversary. At first he ignores the pleas of the widow but eventually relents. He doesn’t do this out of a sense of compassion but more out of his own concern of being worn out by the appeals of the widow.
The widow gives us an example of what occurs in our patience and perseverance in our prayer life. This is the sort of resilience in our communication with God even when He doesn’t answer quickly. God knows better than we do when we are to be ready for His reply. And only then.
The judge on the other hand flies in the face of God. He is unrighteous while God is righteous and just. The judge is motivated by his own needs. God is motivated by His love and compassion for His children. The judge gives in to the widow begrudgingly. God in His mercy wants to bring justice to His people. God desires to bolster the faith of the disciples. He also wishes to ensure that they understand His willingness to hear and act on their prayers.
Jesus ends the parable saying, “Nevertheless, when the son of man comes will he find faith on earth?” This is an important question as it links persistent prayer to the existence of faith. True faith is the inclination to persevere in faith trusting in the Word of God even in our dryness of faith, the hardships of life and our impatience for God to answer our prayers in His own, not ours.
In conclusion, this parable shows that, when Jesus returns to earth, will he find people praying, who have not given up on God? If this is so, he will find people who have not grown weary and discouraged by life. Because they have continued seeing God at work in their lives. They have not given up on prayer. And may we be among them, people who learned to pray always so as not to lose heart. Amen.
Dcn Tom Cuddihy