Don't lose heart

Here is the reflection I shared with those who came to pray with us today: encouragement for hearts that are constantly in need of growing in faith.

Pray always

This Sunday’s gospel begins by placing us once again at the feet of Jesus who told his disciples a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart (Lk 18:1).   This is the secret to holding on to all the things we have learned about God the Father, about his infinite love for each one of us and about his plan for us to spend eternity with him in heaven.  While he was on earth, Jesus himself often went away to a deserted place to pray: to praise God the Father when things were good and to cry out for help when there were doubts.  Through his example of perseverance, persistence and confidence in prayer, we too can draw inspiration and learn how to maintain our relationship with God.

Pope Francis says that prayer is the breath of faith (Angelus, October 6, 2013), so if it is true that we must continually breathe in order to live, then we must continually pray in order to live our faith, but breathing spiritually is not as automatic for human beings as breathing naturally is.  Our bodies are adapted to our environment, so our lungs automatically expand and contract as we draw fresh air in and expel carbon dioxide into the environment, but learning to breathe spiritually is a habit that we must train ourselves to adopt: through listening, meditating, talking to God and being silent in front of Him as he instructs our hearts.

On the surface, the act of praying might appear simple enough, but sometimes, simple acts can be deceiving and call for the greatest level of trust and discipline.  Even Saint Teresa of Calcutta describes times in her life when she experienced doubt, yet every day she began with an hour of silent adoration.  Through this discipline, she learned that the fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service and the fruit of service is peace.  In these simple words, which she often repeated to others, she teaches us what she herself came to believe, and what Jesus tried to teach his disciples.

There are times when we all find it difficult to have faith, to be silent and to pray, but does that mean that we should stop looking for such opportunities.  If we truly desire something, should we not be ready to invest some level of effort into working toward it?  If indeed we find it difficult to be silent and to pray, perhaps we should ask others to pray for us.  Aaron and Hur supported Moses in his time of trial, and Moses in turn supported Joshua with his prayer (cf Ex 17:10-13), and the fruit of their prayer brought about miracles.

If it worked for them, it can work for us as well.  Prayer is an essential part of the life of faith.  It’s worth the effort for us to learn this simple art.  It begins by learning to be silent in the presence of God, listening for his voice.   Having heard his voice, we come to trust it, to have faith in him.  He reveals his heart to us and shows us how much he loves us, and we in turn learn how to reach out to others in acts of service and charity that are born out of our experience of love.  When we experience the power of love, we return in awe and wonder to sit in silence before our God … and the cycle begins again.

So you see, it’s worth the effort to continue in what we have learned and come to firmly believe (2 Tim 3:14), to cultivate the habit of prayer and not to lose heart.