19 October 2025 #praywithpersistence
As I ponder a real-life response to the pray-without-ceasing readings, I am back in small-town Wyoming at the foot of the Tetons. It snowed earlier this week and elk-hunting season opens tomorrow; my son-in-law hopes to win big so they have meat for the year. They are officially settled into the “two-working-parents with two-littles” mode and I have to say it is the working definition of loving-in-chaos. In some ways, it feels a little like Moses, Joshua, and Hur’s war against the Amleks… without love, persistence, prayer, and absolute trust in the power of all-things-holy, everything falls apart. Or as I like to say, “One day at a time, sweet Jesus.”
Which makes me wonder if our psalmist who penned the responsorial psalm today was a parent living in a rural community. “Our help is from the Lord who made heaven and earth” makes me think… Probably yes. It’s comforting to know that in the midst of earthly drama there is a fatherly Guardian gazing upon the apple of his eye, at a distance yes, but ready to protect and guide and guard us earthly children. Will we scrape our knees occasionally and learn some life-lessons about truth-and-consequences? Sure. Will we be frustrated when things don’t go our way and it looks like backward movement is the only way to move forward? Absolutely. Are these times we turn to the Lord? Yes.
Which is St. Paul’s point to his colleague Timothy, really. We miss the opening salvo of this chapter which begins a version of “the world is a mess” thanks to those who promote themselves and love to sin, much to the dismay and distress of the small Christian community Timothy is leading. Paul writes that in the middle of war-with-ourselves and the world-around-us, to use the resources at our disposal: Read your Bible. Apply it to your life circumstances. Ask for the grace of wisdom and which direction to go.
Which is exactly what the widow-woman in today’s Gospel did. She lived in a world where the person who meted out justice was not a man of faith. Like Paul she lived in a messy world and knew the only person she could rely on is the Lord. Like Moses she was persistent in her personal prayer and discerned the right path to follow. She was persistent in her faith, even when it seemed like the Lord was having her move backward. People noticed, outsiders even. But she kept at it because she knew it was the right thing to do.
So. When times are hard and it feels as though the world is conspiring against you, what will your response be? The end line on one of Mother Teresa’s famous quotes about what to do when people treat you poorly is this: “You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God. It was never between them anyway.” It’s not about the wars in the world or in our families nor the way that people treat you or the judgements that go against you. Your soul-life is between you and the Lord. #praywithpersistence