Spiritual Corner - Persistence in Prayer

St John Damascene defined prayer as “the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God.”

In today’s gospel, Jesus tells us to pray always without becoming weary, without losing heart. Jesus tells us the parable of the unjust judge and the widow to give us hope and confidence in God’s unfailing love and care towards us.

Through sheer persistence, the widow wears down the unjust judge until he gives her justice. The judge gave two reasons for reaching a decision to grant her petition, first, “because this widow keeps bothering me”, and second, “so that she may not wear me out by continually coming”.

Persistence pays off, and that is especially true for those who trust in God. When we pray, the prayer has to manifest our interior thinking and feelings, it has to be spontaneous and personal, it leads us to an intimate relationship with God like a father with his children.

Persistence in prayer is not to be understood as trying to change God’s mind, as if God was unwilling to help us in the first place. It is us who need to change.

Today we can learn from the widow to be persistent, earnest and never lose heart in prayer. We can also be assured that God answers those who pray day and night with living faith and trust in God.

As in the words of the Psalm, “Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”

Yours,
Deacon Tom Kung