Jesus said to his disciples:
“Suppose one of you has a friend
to whom he goes at midnight and says,
‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,
for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey
and I have nothing to offer him,’
and he says in reply from within,
‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked
and my children and I are already in bed.
I cannot get up to give you anything.’
I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves
because of their friendship,
he will get up to give him whatever he needs
because of his persistence.
“And I tell you, ask and you will receive;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives;
and the one who seeks, finds;
and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
What father among you would hand his son a snake
when he asks for a fish?
Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?
If you then, who are wicked,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit
to those who ask him?” LK 11:5-13
After Jesus teaches us to pray the Our Father and shows us how to approach our Father in heaven humbly as a sinner who needs His mercy, Jesus teaches us to persist in prayer. ”Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you.” Persistent prayer has been one of the hardest things to accomplish as I strive to get closer to God. Again, prayer was often fits and starts. I continued to have life get in the way. As a young boy, I did have a special prayer that I would say every night before I went to bed that thanked God for my family and all that I had. My mom was impressed! Growing up I often prayed for things. In high school, I prayed because I started to create bad habits that I didn’t know how to deal with. I started to learn more about God and my prayers grew deeper. I was a party animal too and worried my mom to death. I would come home and my mom would have her prayer book and rosary out. She often put prayer cards on my pillow. The prayers of a mother are very strong, it might be by these prayers that I fell into teaching religion. In college, I was really searching my identity after my basketball career was over. Basketball was my identity, it was over, I was lost. I read the New Testament and something stirred in me. I still prayed and asked God to help me stop some of the vices I had created for myself in high school. I still rarely talked to Jesus like I would a friend. I said a lot of memorized prayers. Rarely said my rosary. Never asked the Holy Spirit to guide me or understood what the prayers meant. In college, I also went to daily Mass on my own from time to time and I persisted in going to confession monthly. Finally, when I started to teach young people about God in religion class in 5th grade, I had a major conversion. I can’t live this type of life and then go into that classroom and be a hypocrite. That journey continues. After teaching the faith Jesus revealed to us, persistently receiving the sacraments, reading and reflecting seriously on the Good News, learning from the saints, have I come to know how to pray. I don’t always want to pray, but Jesus died for me and I want to thank Him. God created me and sustains me and I want to thank Him. Most importantly, God deserves all of the glory, we are nothing without Him. All these great things and opportunities I have in life are because of Him. I want to love Him back. Persistent prayer by the grace of God has helped me seek and find my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For this I am most grateful. I love to spend time with Jesus now. I can’t get enough Adoration and I love going to Mass. Prayer is essential for eternal life.
Today’s challenge: Pray persistently. Never give up. As Nike says it, “Just Do It!”
Be a servant, become a saint!
#Christian YOLO
“Prayer is the key that unlocks God’s heart.” St. Padre Pio
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