"Persevere in Prayer":

Learning the Meaning and Value of Persistence in Prayer

            The Apostle Paul exhorts the people in his letter to the Romans, "persevere in prayer" (cf. Romans 12:12).  Likewise, to the people of Thessalonica, Saint Paul says, "Pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:17).  There is no doubt: these are hard words to receive in our day and age.  They are so demanding!  "Can't I just pray when I feel like it?"  "I just don't have time in my busy life for prayer; I have too many other things to do."  "I'll get prayer in when I can."  Sound familiar?  If you're a person of faith, phrases like these are perhaps all too familiar.  Why do we make excuses for not praying as much as we should or as much as we would like?  Most likely because we don't know the meaning and value of prayer, nor are we familiar with how exactly we persevere in prayer.  There is no magic formula, but there are fundamental principles which it seems good to abide by if we think there's room for improvement in our prayer lives. 

            First of all, we shouldn't just pray when we "feel like it."  If our prayer life were contingent upon how we were feeling from day to day, it's hard to say that any of us would ever find ourselves in prayer!  Prayer is not or should not be the offshoot of how we are "feeling" on a particular day.  We pray because we're supposed to pray, not because we feel like it.  Children do things based on how they feel.  Adults do things because they know they should, regardless of how they feel about it.  Feelings are notoriously transitory; no true spiritual life can ever be based purely on feelings.  This is not to negate the role of our emotions in our prayer, but it is to say that our emotions/feelings are an unsteady and unreliable foundation on which to build a relationship with God.  God calls us to prayer, to relationship with Him, to participation in His own divine life.  Our Lord says, "When you pray…" (cf. Matt. 6:5) and not "If you pray…"  If we are living faithfully in accord with our true Christian vocation, it is incumbent on us that we pray- we have an obligation to pray.  We pray because we know we should, not because we "feel like it."  This is of fundamental importance to understand for authentic Christian living.

            As noted above, why does St. Paul say "persevere in prayer"?  It seems to me, he says "persevere" precisely because, first off all, prayer is not always easy and so if it's not easy we must therefore persevere in prayer precisely for that fact.  Secondly, prayer is an ongoing reality of Christian living; it is precisely the thing we must keep doing over and over again.  The Gospel has much to teach us in this regard, and one passage seems particularly significant: "And He said to them, '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 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." (Luke 11:5-8).  This parable of sorts is a teaching of Our Lord on prayer.  Our petition may not be answered the first time, and this is what necessitates the virtue of persistence.  Persistence may be defined as "the quality of continuing steadily despite problems of difficulties."  We must continue steadily despite, or precisely because of problems or difficulties.  If union with God is one of the "ends" of prayer, we must persevere until it becomes a reality.

            Is prayer important?  Can we justifiably let it suffer if we take our Christian faith seriously?  Quite frankly, yes, prayer is of the utmost importance and we cannot justifiably let it suffer if we take our Christian faith seriously.  Quoting St. Therese of Lisieux, the Catechism of the Catholic Church states, "For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy."  (cf. CCC 2558).  It is enough for us often to turn our mind to the things of God.  This is a way of prayer.  Prayer is not always the multiplication of many words, the "saying" of many particular prayers, as good, as valuable, and as meaningful as those prayers might be.  It is often taking the time to make an expression of gratitude in one's heart to the God who has provided us with all that we could ever hope for or imagine.  
 

            The Scriptures say, "All good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no alteration or shadow caused by changed." (James 1:17).  God is the giver of all good gifts.  He wants to give us all we need, out of the abundance of His love for us.  In the Holy Gospel According to St. John, we read these words of Our Lord: "Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name He will give you.  Until now, you have not asked anything in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete." (John 16:23b-24).  Our Lord goes on to say, "On that day, you will ask in My name, and I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you.  For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have come to believe that I came from God." (John 16:26-27).  Let us petition the Father in faith, in the name of His Son, and He will give to us whatever is in according with the graciousness of His will, for He loves us.  

            And let us pray as one, as a community, particularly in the context of the public prayer of the Church, the Holy Mass, where our prayers are most effective.  We must do this lest we think there is any such thing as a "me and Jesus" Christianity, because there is not.  Our Lord says, "Amen, amen, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted to them by My heavenly Father.  For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there I am in the midst of them." (Matt 18:19-20).  Jesus is present in the midst of us, and His presence is manifested in the midst of community, which is why is necessary for us together as the Church, the Body of Christ, to offer our prayer in name of Jesus to the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit.  And so let us persevere.  Let us realize the love of the Father for us and so continue to offer our prayers with perseverance, in faith and in the knowledge of God's love for us.  For Our Lord says, "Ask and it will be given to you; 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.  Which one of you would hand his son a stone when he asks for a loaf of bread, or a snake when he asks for a fish?  If you then, who are wicked, now how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask Him."  (Matt. 7:7-11).   

~ Noah J