Jesus instructed his disciples to "pray always without becoming weary." It is from this verse that Saint Paul instructs those in his letter to the Thessalonians to "pray without ceasing." Our necessity to pray unceasingly is equal to the struggle that Moses had to endure in raising his hands above his head as war ensued. Prayer can indeed become a struggle when we glance at our life and see a lack of results that we have received or the reality of the length of the day and how tiresome it would be to pray a "Our Father" or "Hail Mary" nonstop for a twenty four hour period. In our prayer we must have faith because we may not always get the results that we want. Without faith unanswered prayers would show the lack of concern that God has for us. Joined with faith our prayer will find its true value because we will not be chasing after worldly rewards, but instead will be joining ourselves to God and overtime will find all our fears and needs answered by this joining of ourselves to the beatific vision.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church refers to prayer as "a vital and personal relationship with the living God." Countless amounts of saints have defined prayer through the use of their own words. For Saint Therese of Lisieux prayer is "a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned towards Heaven; it is a cry of recognition and love, embracing both trial and joy." Saint Jane Frances de Chantal stated "a good and perfect prayer requires that we forget self and be ready to sacrifice all that we are for God." Through the words of these saints we do not hear that the purpose of prayer is to gain rewards for ourself and for those whom we know. Instead we hear that prayer is important because it joins us to God and allows us to move past ourself towards another. Prayer gives us the opportunity to grow close to God while here on this earth and gives us the ability to receive strength and hope when we find ourself is the midst of trail and tribulation.
To join ourself to God through prayer does not mean that we must constantly repeat a prayer over and over again throughout the day. We of course must eat, sleep, work, and do other activities that require our attention. No matter how busy we find ourself we must take the time necessary to enter into prayer and to work towards praying unceasingly. Prayer is not only available for those who are experiencing great difficulties in life, but it is for everyone at all of life's stages. We should strive to be aware of the presence of God through all of life's various activities. It is possible to work, do sports, or even to watch television while being aware of God's presence in our life. The problem is that we have not worked very hard at harvesting this disposition inside of our life. In the process prayer has become segregated from all that takes place in our life. Instead of allowing this segregation to continue to build we must find ways in our life to be connected to God and learn to respond to Christ's command "to pray always without becoming weary."
As we progress in our understanding and willingness to enter into prayer we must make sure that we always remember Christ's question that comes at the conclusion of today's Gospel. "But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" This question sets up for us the true foundation that our prayer must be based upon. We must ask ourselves this same question because without faith prayer can quickly seem meaningless, but with true faith we will indeed be able to realize the true importance of prayer. With faith will find the value that truly exists in our liturgical prayers such as the Mass, community prayers such as the Stations of the Cross or the Rosary, or our own personal prayer that comes from the depth of our own hearts and joins us with God. With the foundation of faith we will not desire to behold the rewards of prayer in own image, but instead will allow our prayer to join us and our needs to God.
In Saint Paul's letter to Timothy we hear that one who belongs to God will be found competent and equipped for every good work. When we allow ourselves to enter into prayer we are truly allowing ourselves to belong to God. In this action we surrender all of our needs here and realize that in doing so that there is truly value to be found. Even if we have not received the results that we want may we realize that God still hears and answers our prayers. If we allow ourselves to remain persistent like Moses with his hands raised high or the widow in our Gospel we will be found competent and equipped for every good work. With faith as our standard may we find ways to enhance our liturgical prayers such as praying with the scriptures of the day, with faith as our standard may we enhance community prayer with the knowledge that value is found when joining with a group in prayer because we are not alone, and with faith as our standard may we challenge ourselves to learn to grow in personal prayer to where we can train ourselves "to pray always without becoming weary." This day may we open wide the doors of faith through our persistent prayers that join us to the beatific vision of God.
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