The readings for Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time may be found at:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101622.cfm
We live in a world of immediate gratification.
We want what we want and we want it now.
A few years ago, researchers studied how long people would wait on a web page for a video to start playing.
The study was of 67 million people over a 10 day period.
Researchers found that people started leaving a web page after having to wait for two seconds for a video to start. Two seconds!
By the 8 second mark, 90% of people had given up and moved on to another page.
Raise your hand if you are one of those 2 second people.
I might be guilty of that one.
The fact is that we are super impatient as a culture.
We don’t like waiting for websites, food to come or traffic lights to turn green.
But what happens when this impatience spills over into our spiritual lives?
When we go to God in prayer but don’t get what we asked for?
It may not be a big deal if we are praying for something small - but what if it’s something big?
What if we or someone we know are really struggling and we are asking God to answer our prayer to help?
We’re tempted to give up if we feel like God doesn’t answer our prayers.
Jesus understood that when our prayers go unanswered we can become discouraged and give up hope.
In today’s gospel passage by St. Luke, Jesus is telling us to always pray and to never lose heart.
He tells us that being consistent and persistent in prayer is one way we show the strength of our faith in God.
He tells us not to give up. Especially when things get hard.
Maybe our prayers don’t get answered because we’re not reconciled to God or we need to pray more.
Maybe it’s not the right time - Abraham was told God would give him a child - and it took 25 years for that to happen!
Maybe it’s not the right thing - Sometimes what we pray for is selfish, like winning the lottery, so God doesn’t answer that prayer.
Maybe, God answers our prayers, but maybe not exactly the way we wanted.
Maybe what we prayed for is just not part of God’s plan.
The reality is that our faith is tested as we struggle to accept the answer God does give us.
Prayer is about trusting God.
It is an act of faith and that’s why it’s important.
Today, Jesus tells us not to give up because God is not like the dishonest judge.
God is not indifferent to our needs.
In fact, God is far more ready to hear our prayers than we are ready to pray them.
We must not give up.
We must continue to pray because when we pray we express our faith in God’s inherent justness. It also helps us to build spiritual endurance.
God is not like the dishonest judge...He is just and gracious and He dearly loves us.
We are supposed to be like the widow, to persist, to not give up.
Despite no answer, she didn’t lose hope and kept at it until the judge answered her.
When we lose hope, our prayers stop.
When we feel the weight of daily life it can sometimes feel like God isn’t even listening.
But Jesus encourages us to persevere in prayer.
If this dishonest judge ended up answering this helpless widow because she kept asking, how much more will God answer us as His children?
And even if we don’t always get the answer we want, keep at it and trust God because God has a plan.
This week, I ask you to consider.
The night before Jesus was killed, before he prayed “Not my will but your will be done”,
He first prayed to God to “Let this cup pass from me.”
Essentially, he prayed to be spared.
The next day Jesus was killed. And in the process, He reconciled the human race to God, saved us from our sins, and gave us a shot at everlasting life.
Think about that for a bit.
The greatest victory ever achieved in the history of the world happened in a moment when our own Savior didn’t get the answer he wanted to His prayer.
And where would we all be if He had.
