Thursday in the 27th Week of Ordinary Time, October 7

The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary

Luke 11:5-13

Jesus said to his disciples: “Suppose one of you has a friend to whom he goes at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer him,’ and he says in reply from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked and my children and I are already in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.’ I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence. And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

So much of our time is spent on the phone, trying to reach a live person at a company, hospital, or government office.  We may have to wait for hours after our call is placed on hold for someone to pick up.  Some offices seem to be designed in such a way as to keep clients, customers, or anyone else from reaching someone that could perhaps help them.  I know of some parish offices like that.  We wait and wait because we are attempting to fulfill a legal requirement or obtain service for some pressing need.  But very often we run out of time or patience and we give up, outlasted by organizations that are supposed to be at our service.

When the Lord Jesus speaks to us about the need to persevere in prayer in the Gospel reading for today’s Mass, it may seem that even he is telling us to stay on the line and our prayer will be answered in the order it was received.  That would be a misapprehension, however.  Almighty God is all-knowing and all-powerful, and he loves us with a love beyond all telling, as we are reminded whenever we look upon a crucifix.  He is more willing to grant us what we need than we are to receive it.  So why does the Lord tell us to persevere?  And he does.  His meaning could not be made more plain: “I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.”  The Lord teaches us to persevere and to pray continually not because he needs to know our desperation, but in order to submit ourselves to his Providence.  Unlike some human in a customer service or government office, the Lord does not serve us when he is good and ready: he serves us when we are good and ready.  He gives us that which will assist us here and which will will us to life hereafter in the way and at the time that is best suited for us.  Indeed, the main object of our prayers ought to be for our salvation and for that of members of our families and of our friends.  We ought to pray throughout our lives for this and for the conversion of the world.  We should pray for good health and all that makes for a stable life, too.  We may pray for loved ones who have gotten into trouble, through their own fault or otherwise, though any of the people we pray for possess free will and can resist or reject the graces God offers them.  Perseverance is necessary in our prayers for them as well so that God may persevere, as it were, in offering these graces.  The story of St. Monica’s prayers for the conversion of her stubborn son Augustine is well-known to us, but very many of us can also cite instances in our own experience of some wayward soul returning to sanity and the Faith after years of wandering aimlessly.  The history of the Church abounds with accounts of wastrels like Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone becoming great saints: in this case, St. Francis of Assisi.  While Francis himself had to respond to the grace God offered, the fact that it was offered is the sign of the effect of the prayers offered by men and women religious in their monasteries, poor widows, suffering martyrs, and ordinary Christians living out their lives in accord with God’s will for them.  Those who won for Francis these offered graces probably never knew of him.  And yet, praying constantly for the conversion of sinners, they assisted Francis in changing his life.

Particularly on this Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, let us dedicate ourselves to the work of prayer.  Unlike the minutes we spend waiting for someone to answer our telephone calls, not a second we spend in prayer is wasted, but is most pleasing to Almighty God, who stands ready to grant us the fish we need even when it is a snake we ask for.