RBWords

     Jesus' words are spoken to his disciples (including us) in the context of a parable about a persistent widow trying to get a judge to render a decision in her favor.  The text tells us at the beginning that the point of the parable is "about the necessity for them (and us) to pray always without becoming weary."  Those words can get lost in an impression that we are being told to nag God about giving us a particular response to a particular concern.  Prayer is not about nagging.  It is about a relationship.  The widow's relationship to the judge goes only as far as the one particular concern she has.  It is her persistence and perseverance that Jesus' commends.  Our relationship to God is expressed in prayer.

     On retreats, I call the attention of the retreatants to the difference between PRAYER(S) (the words, expressions, gestures, thoughts), PRAY(ER) (the one who is "praying") and PRAYER.  The first two do not always add up to the third!  If we are related to God only when we want something, like the widow was, and ignore the relationship or take it for granted the rest of the time, we are not acting as Jesus' teaches.  Prayer is the steady expression of a relationship of faith.  The American poet, James Dickey, once wrote that prayer is "not in the words but in the breath."  When our relationship to God is a steady reliance on providence, our whole life is a prayer which requires simply our attention to express.  St. Augustine put it succinctly: "Pray as if everything depends on God.  Work as if everything depends on you."  It's an unbeatable partnership!  AMEN