Dear Parish Family,

"Jesus told His disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary." The call of all disciples of Jesus to pray is unconditional. Prayer is our dialogue and union with God. Without prayer, we lose our faith. If prayer was always easy, convenient, and consoling then it wouldn't make sense for Jesus to tell us to pray without becoming weary. When we are tired, desolate, impatient, or defeated it can be difficult to persevere in prayer. Yet these hard moments always bring forth the most fruit when we persist in prayer through them.

 

Why do we become weary in prayer? Sometimes it is due to our relationship with Christ and His Church challenging us to grow in moral and spiritual maturity. At other times, we grow weary in our prayer because we don't sense the presence of God or His willingness to answer in the way we want Him to. In these moments, the temptation to give up on prayer is real. We may say, "What's the point? What difference will prayer make?" People don't often just quit praying all at once. The decay and decomposition of a prayer life happens over the course of time through small but repeated omissions.

 

St. Paul reminds Timothy to proclaim the word persistently whether it is convenient or inconvenient. We can say the same about prayer. Pray whether it is convenient or inconvenient, whether you readily sense God's presence and the fruitfulness of prayer or not. Again, it is in moments of persisting in prayer in times of desolation and darkness that we strengthen our spiritual intimacy and trust in God the most. Jesus concludes today's Gospel with a question inviting us to consider how we will persist in prayer: "When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?" Jesus, we pray for our perseverance in prayer in everything because we understand that if we stop praying, we will lose our faith. Keep our faith strong by helping us rely more and more on prayer each day, Lord.

 

I am yours in Christ,

Fr. Scott Goodfellow