Persevere in Prayer

“Then he told them a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary.” Luke 18:1

There are many verses throughout Sacred Scripture about the importance of prayer and in chapter eighteen of the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells a parable to illustrate the importance of perseverance in prayer. Luke tells us that Jesus is exhorting his disciples to pray always, without growing weary. At first read, this exhortation might seem discouraging, setting a standard we cannot possibly live up to.  

Haven’t we all grown weary in prayer at times? We may have experienced physical weariness, trying to take our regular prayer time but being simply too tired after a long, sleepless night caring for a child, or trying to be attentive while half-asleep during a late-night holy hour. More to the point though, I think we all experience a sort of emotional or even spiritual weariness from time to time in our prayer.

We may, perhaps, grow weary of a particular petition, of asking God to provide in a particular way. At times we may become discouraged, feel worn out from begging for some perceived good that we never receive. Continuing in prayer in the face of what seems like silence from God begins to feel pointless and we might begin to question why we even pray anyway when surely God’s will is going to prevail regardless. We can’t pester God into giving us our way, can we?

Such moments of weariness are common, as are such questions. However, they arise from a fundamental misunderstanding of what prayer is. Prayer is not primarily the act of petitioning God for our needs, wants, or desires. While it is good for us to bring our needs to the Lord because in doing so we are reminded of His providence and of our dependence on Him, that is not what lies at the heart of prayer.

At the heart of prayer is an encounter with the living God. This is true no matter what we are praying about, and this is why the act of prayer itself ought not to become wearisome, for it is the act of raising our hearts and minds to God, an act that is right and good, always and everywhere. The depth of God’s love, the mystery of who He is, is a reality beyond human comprehension. We could spend every moment of the entirety of our lives contemplating the divine mystery and there would always be more to learn.  In prayer, God invites us into relationship with Himself and this relationship will always matter more than the particular content of our prayer at any given time. It is this relationship that sustains us, encourages us, beckons us to come further in, and it is this relationship that enables us to obey Jesus’ exhortation to pray always and not grow weary. It is a foretaste of Heaven, where all weariness is wiped away as we gaze unceasingly upon the face of Love.