Readings:
1st Reading; Exodus 17:8 – 13.
Responsorial Psalm; Ps 120
2nd Reading;2 Timothy 3:14 to 4:2.
Gospel; Luke 18 : 1 – 8.

Today we see Moses, who has led the Israelites out of the land of Egypt through God’s guidance responding to a war call from the belligerent Amalek. We hear him give precise and detail war plans against the enemy. The Gospel story, rather than continue with the warring principle, tells us about persistence in prayer. It should not only be tireless but without ceasing. Paul tells us in 1 Thess. 5:17, “pray without ceasing”, for this is God’s will for us in Christ Jesus. Jesus compares this to a widow who does not give up when a judge refuses to grant her justice when her rights are trampled upon. The widow does not despair because she knows that her problems can only be properly addressed by the judge. Her wish is finally granted.

I remember a clergyman I met while in secondary school, whose motto in life was “offer the wicked man no resistance”. We admired him and most of us came to adopt this as a guiding principle for our lives. Of course, he argued that Jesus asked us to show the other cheek, when the wicked slams you on one. No sooner out of school were we to understand that, unlike in the school milieu, the wicked outnumbered the good people. Survival would absolutely not be possible if we continued with such a principle. Sure, most of us have abandoned the principle as the signpost for our lives. It is not only dangerous but suicidal. We have learned to offer resistance and sometimes very fiercely too.

Quite often the defenceless are taken advantage of and refused their rights. I remember somebody down rightly violating my rights and telling me that I have nobody in my family powerful enough to stand up for me. I have known that just too well, especially in a society where the rich and powerful determine the cause of things for those they disagree with. Yes! I have not and do not despair. Some local musicians give me quite some inspiration. I do not remember their names but can recall one singing “Sorry ye! Sorry for my life! Na God dasso He be my own family. One day sun go shine”; and the other sings, “cow whe e no get yi tail, na God de drive’am fly”.

In life, we should expect trials and adversity, not without hope in God. The stories of Jesus and especially on the last judgment reveal that God’s justice triumphs over all injustices perpetuated by the evil powerful people on earth here. If we look forward with hope and trust in God, the reward may take long, but it sure, comes. They may cut off your legs, seize your possessions and even deprive you of the gift of life. Vindication comes at the end either here or unfailingly, in the world to come. The weapon that we need for this is unceasing prayer.

That is why we are called to pray unceasingly. When trials and setbacks disappoint you, when the enemy pursues you, where do you place your trust and hope? Do you pray with expectant faith and confidence in God’s merciful care and providence for you? Jesus calls us today to be perseverant when we pray. Moses shows us the perseverance in the first reading when he gets weak but wants the Israelites to be at advantage over their enemies. Perseverance should be from day to day, week to week, and eventually it becomes part of us. We must have focus for our prayer like Moses or the widow in the parable. We should never look for immediate results. God responds in His own time and way, and these may be far different from what we expect when we pray.

We see faith in continuous prayer in a man in the Old Testament called Job. When satan strikes him with untold tragedy, he remains steadfast to his prayer in faith. His wife and three friends urge him to give up his piety and devotion to God but he remains steadfast. He even makes use of Biblical criminal law – swearing to his innocence and challenging God to prove the contrary. At the end, God appears, scolds the friends and rewards Job for his faithfulness. The moral of the story is clear: when hard times befall you, don’t be tempted to give up your faith in God. Do not think He – God is not listening. He does!. Persist with prayer in faith. He may not answer immediately, but He does finally. Just have some patience and you will find Him close-by.

When we pray continuously and unceasingly our insight on prayer tends to change and we gain wisdom on the understanding of God. We can still contrast two prayers in the Bible, both by the same person in almost the same circumstances, twenty years apart. In Genesis 28, we find Jacob, a young man, spending his first night away from home. He has quarrelled with his father and brother and is fleeing to his uncle, Laban. He says, “If God will be with me on this venture, protecting me, giving me food to eat and clothes to wear, and if I come back safe to my father’s house, then the Lord will be my only God. I will dedicate an altar to Him and set aside a tenth of all I earn for Him.” (Gen. 28:20-22). He is clearly making a bargain with God. So many times, we find ourselves praying in the same manner. When we are facing illness or misfortune. ‘Please God, make this work for me now; let me have this job, let me pass my exams, let me get well now, let me not die now, let my lover come back to me, let…, let…and I will do this or that for you or do whatever you will’. ‘I will stop lying, go to Church regularly, help the poor, offer you all my time, be holy, etc. This type of prayer may not be immoral but it is inaccurate. God’s blessings are not for sale. It worsens when a thief is praying that God should make him succeed in robbery. Sometimes, he promises God that if he succeeds without being trapped, he would stop stealing after that. In such a prayer, the thief uses all logic to prove to God that what he wants to steal is very necessary. Again, such bargains are not worthy with God.

Twenty years after, as Jacob returns to his father’s house, he reaches the same spot on which he said the above prayer. He knows that he will confront his brother Esau who had threatened to kill him 20 years earlier. This time around, because he is older and wiser, he offers a different prayer. “God of my father Abraham and of my father Isaac, I am unworthy of all this kindness You have shown me. I last crossed this river with nothing but a staff in my hand and now I have grown to two camps. Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau for I am afraid of him, ….for it was You who said to me, ‘I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea” (Gen.32:9-12.). Jacob does not try to make a deal with God anymore. He thanks God for His kindness and reminds God of His promises to him. He does not make promises of offerings, nor asks God for food, clothing or a safe return. He simply asks God to be with him in the difficulties he knows he will encounter. He does not ask God to cripple Esau his brother, nor for a magic wand to disable Esau. He asks God to be on his side. This is a more mature prayer.

We should not pray that God should make our lives free of problems. We cannot ask God to make us and our loved ones immune to disease. We cannot ask Him that bad things happen only to other people and not to us. That is mean. Rather we should pray like Job’s second prayer, for courage, for strength to bear the unbearable. God promises to be with us when we pray, trust and have faith in Him. I remember a large framed picture that was sold in Bamenda some time ago, of a ragged child with an empty bowl, looking into the sun’s rays with a raised open hand, and telling God, “God, You promised me my daily bread, I want it now!” Because God promised to be there with us, we can ask Him in times of difficulties/tragedy to help us, not trying to make a bargain. No currency or offerings can pay God back for His kindness to us. We do not have to bribe God to give us strength, hope or patience. We only need to turn to Him, admit that we cannot do it all by ourselves and He will be beside us through the difficult moments. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are there with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” (Ps 23:4)

Quite often I have heard some ‘clergymen’, instead of teaching their followers how to pray devotedly, they invite them to send in their prayer requests for them, the pastors to pray for. I have often wondered if God would only listen to some people and not others. Are there some specific words in specific circumstances, uttered by particularly persons in specific postures that will make God listen to and answer? To give the impression that God will listen to prayer from only some people recited in certain words and languages may be reducing God to a robot or a computer keyboard with only a few who can do certain operations?. I receive pleas, from friends that I should pray for them. Yes, it is proper to ask the community of the faithful to join you in prayer but it will be ridiculous to ask another person for prayer when you yourself do not pray nor believe in prayer. Of course, if I had the magic wand, I would make things happen for those who ask me to pray for them. However, I believe that God will listen to our persistent prayer said together, faster, if He listens to the persistent prayer of one person.

Jesus tells us to pray consistently/unceasingly with contrition and faith like Jacob in his second prayer and He will grant our demands the way the Judge in the Gospel today grants the demands of the persistent widow.

A Little Prayer.

Lord Jesus, I thank you for all the times that You have granted me my unasked favours. Give me faith to believe in your promises as you give me perseverance and hope to withstand trials and adversities. Help me to trust in your unfailing love and to find joy and contentment in you alone. May I never give up in prayer, as I raise my hope to You. Amen!

Have a Blessed Week!
Bobe Talla Toh.