29th Sunday in Ordinary Time – C
Late in Autumn, a family were sitting around the table eating their dinner. For whatever reason, Christmas came into the conversation. Smiling, the mother asked her son what he wanted for Christmas, and, after a long pause, young Johnny said, “A bicycle.” The months went by, and the word “bicycle” was never mentioned again, not even when the mother bought roller blades for John at Christmas. She had decided that, if he really wanted a bicycle, she would have heard about nothing else for all the weeks leading up to Christmas.
There is a way to perseverance in prayer with the heart, which reaches out to God, who is sure to answer. To speak from the heart is also to speak to the heart. God can read the human heart and knows us better than any words we might use; God knows us better than we know ourselves
In our Gospel story, there was something that the widow wanted, and, despite all his toughness and hard heartedness, the judge simply had to give in to her eventually, because she showed no sign of giving up.
One of my favorite movies of all time is “Rudy.” Rudy Ruettiger played by (Sean Aston) wants to play football at the University of Notre Dame but has neither the money for tuition nor the grades to qualify for a scholarship. Rudy redoubles his efforts to get out of the steel mill where his father works when his best friend dies in an accident there. Overcoming his dyslexia thanks to his friend and tutor, Rudy gains admission to Notre Dame and begins to fight his way onto the school’s fabled football team. This young man showed great perseverance in prayer, his studies, and takes many hard hits on the football field to prove his devotedness to Notre Dame Football.
That is persistence! Here is another example:
Abraham Lincoln’s Road to the White House was built on perseverance
Failed in business in 1831
Defeated for Legislature in 1832 Defeated for Senate in 1858
Second failure in business in 1833 Elected President in 1860
Suffered nervous breakdown in 1836
Defeated for Speaker in 1838
Defeated for Elector in 1840
Defeated for Congress in 1843
Defeated for Congress in 1848
Defeated for Senate in 1855
Defeated for Vice President in 1856
After speaking about the evil judge Jesus speaks about his Father. If even the judge gave in to persistence, how much more will our heavenly Father respond to our prayers? God can read the heart and knows whether we really want and need what we ask for. If sometimes prayer seems to us to go unanswered, it is because God has already given us what we ask for in another form, or unless He has something better to give us.
The prayer in today’s gospel is an acute petition. This is a normal form of prayer, of course, but not the most important. Praise and thanksgiving are the highest form of prayer; but that is helped when our prayers of petition are granted.
During the Eucharistic Prayer or Consecration, listen to the prayers of the Priest; hear the words of petition, the words of thanksgiving, and the words of praise to our loving God. It is through this prayer that we are united in Christ and find our one true purpose, to give praise and thanksgiving to God, who has given everything to us.