The Power Of Persistence
Saturday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time
My dear encountered couples:
We are not to give up our praying, Jesus tells us, for it takes persistence to get the job done. But let us not think praying is all we need to doing in life. Let’s face it. No amount of praying is going to clean the dirty dishes in the sink. There are some things God does; there are some things we must do. God doesn’t wash dishes or windows. But he will help give us the mindset to wash them ourselves.
You know how it can be with children. Jump to their wishes and dance to their tunes every time they voice what they want and most likely you end up with a kid who appreciates nothing and no one -least of all you. They can become accustomed to using people as their personal servants, possess them like genies in a bottle, make them into enablers to satisfy their habits. God does not intend that attitude to happen in regard to him. If we want some-thing we are not only going to have to ask for it repeatedly, we are going to have to do whatever we can to answer our own prayers.
Did the widow in the story just repeatedly bombard the judge with words to get her rights and then go home to wait for the results? Or did she also do other things to get her opponent to be just with her? Not that I know what that could be. But In real life it usually takes the help of others plus what we can do on our own. Prayer is not merely to get God to dance for us and perform miracles; prayer is to get us motivated and active.
Jesus told his disciples the parable of the widow and the judge, so they would never give up praying. But he did not excuse them from working hard themselves for what they got. Let us pray as if everything depends on God; then work as if it all depends on us.