‘Always to pray, and not to faint’

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

THAT’S the lesson Christ wants us to draw from that gospel parable about a woman who persisted in asking a judge to render her justice—even to the point of disturbing him—and finally got what she wanted. (cfr. Lk 18,1-8))

Like that woman we should also persist in asking God for help so we can carry out our duty of resolving very difficult problems we are having in our country and in the world in general.

We know that in the end, God will always give in to grant our petitions, even as we also should be ready to do what God would want us to do. We should just persist, never giving up, because we need nothing less than divine, and not just human, intervention. Difficult and complicated problems require difficult and complicated solutions as well.

We cannot deny that we are facing very complicated problems and issues—widespread poverty, injustice, a culture of ingrained corruption in all levels of government and society in general, etc.—and we just cannot be indifferent to them even if at the moment we seem to be helpless.

We have to heed what Christ told the apostles once: “Duc in altum,” go to the deep, (cfr. Lk 5,4) unafraid of the challenges along the way. We know that God will take care of everything even if we have to meet and carry the cross.

Like Christ we should not even be afraid to offer our life. Let’s remember that our human redemption was achieved through the cross. We should expect the cross to come. More than that, we should love it.

The first thing to do is to pray, to connect ourselves with God who knows everything and has the solution for all our problems and difficulties. In this regard, let’s pay attention to what St. Paul once said: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thes 5,16-18) We need to be strong in the faith to fuel our hope of a better tomorrow.

It’s when we pray when more than us talking to God, begging for some favors, it is God talking to us. It’s more a matter of listening to God and carrying out what he will be telling us or showing or insinuating to us.

Definitely, to tackle the daunting challenges and immense difficulties we are facing today, we really would need to study well the doctrine of our faith and know the as much as we can the facts on the ground, the actual situation of the issues involved.

We have to make plans and strategies as well as learn to coordinate with the involved parties, the stakeholders, key players and those who in one way or another can collaborate with us.

We should not be afraid to complicate our life. We should not be afraid when our life gets complicated. As long as we are with God, we even would be willing to complicate our life. I think that is the proper attitude to develop in ourselves. We should not just wait for our life to get complicated. We somehow should complicate by truly involving ourselves in the mission of resolving the serious problems of our country and of the world.

Obviously, we should try our best to be properly prepared for this unavoidable condition in our life. Let’s prepare ourselves for this physically, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually and morally. For this, we need to avail of all possible and appropriate means.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com