Readings:
29th Sunday in ordinary time
Exodus 17: 8-13
2 Timothy 3: 14- 4:2
Luke 18: 1-8
Reflection:
It struck me afresh: Our pestering prayers become the well-worn pathways we walk on through our circumstances.
God is not put out by our repeated requests — quite the opposite! As the parable proves, God tells us to go right on ahead and talk to Him. Pour out to Him. Sob our eyes out in front of Him. Our prayers can tug on the edge of His clothing day and night, and He’s not exasperated or wearied by them. Instead, He responds to them and acts with justice. We can pester and pester and pester some more, and God is only too willing to answer them in a way that is always for our best.
I don’t know what road stretches in front of you during these long days, but if it holds difficult circumstances you didn’t see coming, as it does for me, and you don’t have a clue about where they lead, then stop and pray. Then do it again and again. A gentle reminder to give yourself permission to send up that whispering wish, that echoing prayer.
May you and I keep on keepin’ on through our prayers, the roads we take from our low places on the ground to the heights of heaven. Let us remember when on our knees, may we feel closest to the heavens. When there’s nothing we can do to change our circumstances, prayer is not just how we deal with those circumstances; it’s the way we move through them.
Your will be done, Lord, on earth as it is in heaven.
Sr Karen Englebretsen CP, Cross and Passion Sisters. blessed to be a spiritual care worker in the homeless sector in Melbourne.