Pray Always and Never Lose Heart, Even in Your Brokenness

Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, ‘In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, “Grant me justice against my opponent.” For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, “Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.” ’ And the Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?’ (Luke 18: 1-8)

Father David Engo gave a homily about the necessity of praying always and never losing heart. He noted that this parable had three things to say about prayer.

One. Prayer is necessary.

Two. Prayer must be continuous.

Three. We must never give up praying.

Prayer is as necessary to the spiritual life as breathing is to the physical life. Just as we must breathe continually to live, so must we pray continually in order to live spiritually. Prayer can be deep contemplative prayer, verbal prayer, the Mass, the Liturgy of the Hours, quiet time with God, or even quick pleas of help or praise. No matter how bad things become, and whether or not our prayers are being answered, we are never to give up praying. Why? Because God will answer.

Father David gave an example of how, when he was a boy, he was able to fix toys, so the children of the neighborhood would bring him their broken dolls and trucks to repair. Sometimes the repair was easy. Sometimes it was a little more difficult but could be done. But other times the toy was beyond repair, and so the children had to play with it broken. Father David noted that cars without wheels became boats or jet planes in the children’s minds.

In the same way, we go to God the Healer with all of our brokenness. Sometimes repairs are easy. Sometimes they take a little time. And other times God leaves us with the brokenness, and we must learn to play while broken. We can do this only if we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and if we remember to pray always and not lose heart.