Saturday 32nd week even numbered year “Jesus told them a parable about the need to pray continually and never lose heart : ’There was a judge in a certain town, ’he said ’who had neither fear of God nor respect for anyone. In the same town there was also a widow who kept on coming to him and saying ’ I want justice from you against my enemy!”
When we make prayers of petition, they will go straight to the Father’s Heart and here they will find a unfailing welcome, a fair and favourable one.
Jesus promises us that tenacious prayer will always obtain satisfaction.
This Constance is the essential quality of the person who is committed on the path of prayer. It becomes tough when we need to persevere.
This Gospel has us admire the insistence of this woman. She comes and torments this judge with strength, putting him before his duty and before himself.
Through this, Jesus underlines how important it is to persevere in prayer. Perseverance is born from weakness and poverty of our life. In order to last out in prayer we lean upon our dependence on God our Father. We need his grace.
Through the Beatitudes, Jesus has us enter into God’s Kingdom already : ’Blessed are the poor“. Thus we find ourselves in the depth and truth of our request.”For a long time the judge refused, but at last he said to himself ’ Even though I have neither fear of God nor respect for any human eprson, I must give this widow her just rights since she keeps pestering me, or she will come and slap me in the face."
There is a surprising beauty in this woman, her faith is going to fall to the side of justice. The motivation of this judge is ’not to be slapped by this woman!’
In the world’s ’darkness’ we can reach Light if we persevere.
When the Gift of God is rejected, when the beauty of the human person is slapped and hurt on earth, we believe most of all in God’s action.
Mankind’s misery, the difficulty in believing, cannot stop us.
The Judge in this Gospel will bring justice tot his woman. She believed that she could have had her prayer answered.
When we ask God something he already answers it! We ought to believe as much in the prayer as in the answer to the prayer.
’I tell you he will see justice done to them, and done speedily."
There is a positive aspect in each one of us, there is a secret possible to encounter by a conversion. God is Light, we have to believe in it, it is question of faith!
We persevere in prayer for God is an infinitely Good Father. He doesn’t make his chosen ones with, they are his beloved. Without waiting he will bring justice to them. We don’t stop praying our Heavenly father for humanity by having faith in God, and by having trust in mankind!
“And the Lord said ’You notice what the unjust judge has to say? Now, will not God see justice done to his elect if they keep calling to him day and night even though he still delays to help them? I promise you, he will see justice done to them, and done speedily. But when the Son of man comes back, will he find any faith on earth?”
Poverty of heart is the condition of persevering prayer and the spiritual fruit of this perseverance.
Whoever knows how to keep poverty and humility of heart knows how to welcome what Jesus wishes to give, and the way in which He wishes to give it
Poverty of heart gets us to recognise our lacks and our needs, and the capacity the Lord Jesus ahs to fill these lacks and needs.
’When he comes back will He find any faith on earth?
Like, loving, praying means to open up to others and it is a gift of self soa s to receive the other person.
What depends on us is the opening up of ourselves and the gift of ourselves. Th attitude of the person who prays is that of expectation and of persevering watchfulness in order to save the faith that is in our hearts.
The rock of our expectation are the promises of Christ Jesus, and the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus is present, it is a question of turning towards Him, to keep heart and hands open. In this way we become ready for encounters, tirelessly watchful.
The poor in heart knows he can formulate all kinds of requests to the Heart of the Father. He looks upon each one of us with a beautiful design for our lives, much greater than Himself. We recognise that we depend fundamentally upon God in our life, that he is the origin of it and its end.