XVII-OT-C:Gen. 18:20-32; Col. 2:12-14; Lk. 11:1-13

Today's Reading from the Gospel of Luke reminds us of the necessity to persevere in our prayer. When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, Jesus taught them the Lord's Prayer, the Our Father. The prayer our Father is not just a personal prayer. It is also a community prayer. We do not pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “give ME this day what I want.” We pray, “Give US this day our daily bread.” We are created for community. Our prayer-focus should not be just God and me, but God and US.

 To emphasize the importance of persevering in prayer, Jesus gave the story of a friend who arrived at midnight and the necessity to go next door to one's neighbour to borrow three loaves of bread. Under normal circumstances, it is expected that the neighbour will complain because of the hour during which the request is made. It must be realized that in those days, to open the door meant to remove a very large wooden or iron bar from the door that was shut. To do so was tiresome and noisy. Furthermore, the entire family slept on a mat in the peasant house that was single-roomed. To open the door meant to disturb the entire family from its sleep. However, because of the visitor’s persistent knocking or importuning he would get up because his family would be woken up by that any way. Jesus concluded His teaching by saying that if you ask, it will be given to you; if you search, you will find; and if you knock, the door will be opened to you.

God honors persistence throughout the bible. Abraham in the first reading was persistently praying for the good people of Sodom. He was concerned that God would destroy Sodom if fifty righteous souls were not found within the city. On behalf of a lesser number of righteous soul, even ten, Abraham obtained God's unconditional promise that He would not destroy the city. Even Jesus was persistent in prayer. At the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus left his disciples and prayed three times. Sometimes we feel like our prayers are never answered. We wonder if God actually hears our prayers.  

The parable of the persistent widow offers us some answers. The judge in the parable was a man who didn’t fear God or respect anyone. He was in it himself, for the money and the power. So when the widow asked for a judgment, there was nothing in it for him. So, he was unwilling to help. The widow, however, was persistent, approaching him multiple times until he finally gave in and rendered a just judgment. Unlike the judge, God wants to intervene on our behalf. We are His chosen people, His beloved children. He wants to answer our prayers. What God simply need from us is our faith.

There is a story of the Sea Captain, who in a terrible storm feared the loss of all lives.  He asked if anyone knew how to pray.  No one volunteered.  So the captain, prepared to do a captain’s duty, agreed to pray.  His opening words were, “God, I’ve never bothered you before, and if you help us through this storm, I’ll never bother you again.”  That is hardly what God desires from any of us. Even persistent prayer is not bothering God, but manifesting our trust in him.

When we come to God with our request we often come very casually.  We ask and then leave.  When we do not get an immediate answer we return with the request but more urgently.  The longer we do without what we need, the more we are aware of its importance to us, until like ancient Jacob we say “I will not let you go until you bless me.”  If we really need something from God, we will find ourselves returning again and again.

St Augustine understood Christian prayer better than almost anyone. He had learned all about it from his mother, St Monica, who spent almost twenty years begging God with daily tears to convert her heretical and pleasure-loving son. This experience helped him understand why God doesn't always give us what we ask for right away. It's because he wants to give us more than what we ask for. By inviting us to be persistent, God is stretching our hearts, making them able to receive more grace, the way you stretch out a burlap sack so you can fill it to the brim.

Here's how Augustine explained it: "Suppose you want to fill some sort of bag, and you know the bulk of what you will be given, you stretch the bag or the sack or the skin or whatever it is.  You know how big the object that you want to put in and you see that the bag is narrow so you increase its capacity by stretching it.  In the same way by delaying the fulfillment of desire God stretches it, by making us expand the soul, and by this expansion he increases its capacity."

God never ignores our prayers.  If we keep on asking with sincerity and confidence in God's goodness, we are guaranteed to receive, and it will probably be much more than we could have imagined. When we do not understand why answers to our prayers are delayed, put our hand into God’s hand.  And continue to pray for those things we know to be his will.

Today, in response to Christ's reminder about the nature of Christian prayer, let's renew our commitment to taking time every day to be alone with God, to reboot our souls every morning and evening; so that our lives can run more smoothly, the way God designed them to run.