TODAY’S WORD…

One day Jesus told His disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up…                                                                                                                                                    – Luke 18:1

REFLECTION…

Jesus wants us to persevere in prayer and to do so with confidence and faith.
God, who is infinitely just, and who is our Father, listens to the persevering prayer of His children and never fails to respond justly if they persist in seeking His help.

They should always pray and never give up.
Here is what Pope Saint John Paul II tells us about the need to pray:

“Why must we pray?

1. We must pray first and foremost because we are believers. Prayer is in fact the recognition of our limitation and our dependence: we come from God, we belong to God and we return to God!
We cannot, therefore, but abandon ourselves to Him, our Creator and Lord, with full and complete confidence […].

Prayer, therefore, is first of all an act of intelligence, a feeling of humility and gratitude, an attitude of trust and abandonment to Him who gave us life out of love.
Prayer is a mysterious but real dialogue with God, a dialogue of confidence and love.

2. We, however, are Christians, and therefore we must pray as Christians. For the Christian, in fact, prayer acquires a particular characteristic, which completely changes its innermost nature and innermost value. The Christian is a disciple of Jesus;
he is one who really believes that Jesus is the Word Incarnate, the Son of God who came among us on this earth.

As a man, the life of Jesus was a continual prayer, a continual act of worshipand love of the Father and since the maximum expression of prayer is sacrifice,
the summit of Jesus’ prayer is the Sacrifice of the Cross,
anticipated by the Eucharist at the Last Supper
and handed down by means of the Holy Mass throughout the centuries.

Therefore, the Christian knows that his prayer is that of Jesus; every prayer of his starts from Jesus;
it is He who prays in us, with us, for us.
All those who believe in God, pray; but the Christian prays in Jesus Christ: Christ is our prayer!

3. Finally, we must pray because we are frail and guilty.
It must be humbly and realistically recognised that we are poor creatures, confused in ideas, tempted by evil, frail and weak,
in continual need of inner strength and consolation.

Prayer gives the strength for great ideas, to maintain faith, charity, purity and generosity.
Prayer gives the courage to emerge from indifference and guilt, if unfortunately one has yielded to temptation and weakness.
Prayer gives light to see and consider the events of one’s own life and of history in the salvific perspective of God and eternity. Therefore, do not stop praying!
Let not a day pass without your having prayed a little!
Prayer is a duty, but it is also a great joy, because it is a dialogue with God through Jesus Christ!

Every Sunday, Holy Mass: if it is possible for you, sometimes during the week. Every day, morning and evening prayers, and at the most suitable moments!”

PRAYER…

Jesus, teach me how to pray.
Draw me close to You, Lord, and lead me into prayer.
Take over my heart and mind and place my focus on You.
Increase my faith and help me persevere and stay firm in love and truth.
Lord Jesus, I love You and I trust in You!