Pray Unceasingly And Do Not Become Weary!


This is the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time and we are told by Christ that our prayers should be offered without end. Wow! Really? You want me to pray unceasingly while I am busy with my children’s lives—orchestrating their sports, their school activities; and you want me to be faithful to my spouse, to work hard in my career and be involved with my church? Really? When do I get a break for myself?
 
The answer to that elongated question is: yes-and-no, so have priorities.
 
The key message in today’s sacred scripture is that we are to pray to God unceasingly, that is—with persistence, but to also know what we are praying for and how we are to pray. The main idea of the reading is to ask for God that my will is con-formed to His Will.
 
How do we actually apply this in our everyday life? Let us look to the most perfect example of following God’s Will:
Jesus Christ. In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed to the Father asking “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me, nevertheless; let your will be done, not mine.” Here Christ did not ask the Lord to be “magical” and eliminate all the bad that was coming His way nor did He ask the Father to change His mind. He simply said Father let Your will be done…for I know that You love me and that Your love for me is so great that it will lead me only to what is good for me. In the end, the Father did not take away Christ’s Cross but He did answer His prayer bringing about the Resurrection. He answered His prayers in the most ever-lasting way, eternal life.
 
In today’s first reading it appears that when Moses lifted up his arms and prayed, Israel was victorious, God favored them. When Moses stopped praying, Israel began to fail. This might seem a bit simplistic and mechanistic vis-à-vis prayer, however it implies the need for us to pray constantly and the desire of God to hear our prayers. In the Gospel of Luke the persistence of the widow vis-à-vis her interactions with the dishonest judge are also seen symbolically as an interpretation of the power of persistence which must also be applied to the spiritual or prayer life. A sort of “keep it up and God will answer us, stop and forget it.”
 
In the second reading, St. Paul encourages us to know that through devout prayer—particularly praying the sacred scripture which is known as Lectio divina (Latin for “divine reading”) is a simple method of praying with Scripture. It was already known by the Church Fathers in the early days of the Church. Lectio divina was recommended by Saint Cyprian (a third-century bishop and martyr). It has been part of the prayer of Christians throughout the history of the Church. Monasteries kept the practice alive. Saint Benedict (480–547 A.D.) taught his monks to pray in this way 1500 years ago, and it is still a wonderful way to pray today. Saint Paul reminds us that in knowing the scriptures and having the Truths of Christ form our very being, we are then equipped to understand the Will of God in our lives and through this knowledge, we can then let prayer form our action. We will pray to God not to have this ailment taken away from us or to win the lottery, but rather to accept with grace God’s Will in our lives and have faith that the Lord will, in the end, make all things anew. That His divine love for us will lead us only to the good. Remember, the Father did not take the Cross away from Jesus but rather answered His prayer with the open-ing up of the Resurrection.
 
Luke’s Gospel offers us a parable in that the widow—someone who was a member of the most vulnerable population in ancient Jewish society—comes before a judge and asks for justice. The dishonest judge does not act as a judge should rightly act—by seeing to it that justice is meted out but rather only gives in to “get the woman out of his face” to put it in the vernacular. Jesus highlights the widow’s persistence as a methodology for our prayer. Do not give up. Justice, or God’s favor, will be the answer we receive—even if it’s not what we are asking for. As with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, prayer is always persistent, it is unceasing….and it also is always trusting: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me, nevertheless; let your will be done, not mine.” This is why we pray.
 
Prayer is both communal and private. We might pray Lectio divina by ourselves or do some form of prayer in meditation but we also are called to pray in community. Christ set up His church in the form of public worship, thus our liturgies, so that the presence of Christ and His body on earth, the Church, are made manifest in His people. We also nourish each other by our communal prayer. See in today’s first reading the idea of worshiping together in that Moses could not do it alone, but needed the help of Aaron and Hur. Keep in mind the saying, “Those who pray together, stay together.” Christ formed our style of prayer and continues to call us to worship together.

Yours in Christ,

Father Michael