Jesus told his disciples a parable about the need to pray continually and never lose heart.
The parable of the Widow and the Unjust Judge doesn’t work in the way most parables do. The Judge in the story is precisely not an image or figure of God. In fact, he’s the opposite of God in every respect, except that in the end he grants the widow’s persistent request. Our Lord, surely not without some comic effect, is using here a method of argument that was in common currency among the Jewish Rabbis of his time, though it seems quite strange to us. The technical term for this is “a minori ad maius” - “from the lesser to the greater”. “If this, then how much more that”. St. Paul uses this rhetorical figure several times in his letters.
Allow me to state the obvious about the moral of this story. It is not that God could be exasperated or wearied by our persistence in prayer. On the contrary. Jesus here teaches precisely that God asks for our persistence. If anything should weary God, it would be our forgetfulness, our lack of faith, our willingness to give up hope, our readiness to abandon prayer. God is always pleased when we pray to him. He wants us to turn to him in our troubles, and he promises to hear us. Yes, of course there are times when our prayer seems not to be heard. Jesus in Gethsemani asked, at least conditionally, that the cup be removed from him, and it was not. But a greater good was most certainly brought about by that cup not being removed. Because Jesus drank it to its dregs, we were redeemed. And because Jesus in obedience to his Father accepted suffering and death, he was raised up to invincible and all-conquering Life, constituted as Lord of all Creation, and enthroned in triumph forever.
There’s a text in the Apocalypse which gives us a little window into one reason why God may sometimes wish to delay a response to our prayer. St. John sees in his vision the souls of the martyrs waiting under the Altar. They cry out to God in rather similar words to the widow in the parable. When will you take vengeance for our death? And they are told to be patient a little longer, until the number of all the chosen martyrs is made up (Apoc 6:9ff.).
Back for a moment to Jesus in Gethsemani. I want to suggest that his prayer was not actually ignored, or somehow not heard, or even put on hold for a while. From that prayer, God the Father endowed Jesus with all the strength and courage he needed to endure his Passion with perfect patience and love. So it is with us. If we don’t receive immediately what we want, we will anyway be given what we need. What God gives us will always be in response to our greatest need, and our greatest good, which of course is our eternal salvation and union with him in heaven.
Those who have tried it know that as a matter of fact, according to experience, prayer, and especially the prayer of request in time of trouble, is always answered. Prayer is very powerful, and we are strongly urged to have confidence in it, and to keep at it with perseverance.
I wanted to quote for you now one or two little passages from the Fathers about prayer. Let these early witnesses speak briefly now, since they certainly know what they are talking about. Here first is St. Gregory of Nyssa, of the 4th century. We had him at Vigils this morning:
“Those who fail to unite themselves to God through prayer cut themselves off from God. So the first thing we have to learn is that we need to pray continually and not lose heart. Prayer brings us close to God, and when we are close to God we are far from the enemy. Prayer safeguards chastity, controls anger, and restrains arrogance. It is the seal of virginity, the guarantee of marital fidelity, the shield of travellers, the protection of sleepers, the encouragement of those who keep vigil, the cause of the farmer’s good harvest, and of the sailor’s safety” (On the Lord’s Prayer).
Now a few lines from St. John Chrysostom, a younger contemporary of St. Gregory of Nyssa: “As water is life for a fish, so is prayer life for you. Prayer makes us temples of Christ. As the sun gives light to the body, so does prayer give light to the soul. If it’s a calamity for a blind man not to see the sun, how much more is it for a Christian not to pray assiduously - if by prayer he does not welcome Christ into his soul!” (cf. On Prayer to God).
Finally here is St. John Climacus, two centuries on from the other two. He was a contemporary of St. Gregory the Great, and Abbot of St. Catherine’s Monastery at Mount Sinai: “The effect of prayer is to hold the world together. Prayer achieves reconciliation with God. Prayer is the mother and the daughter of tears. Prayer is expiation of sin, a bridge across temptation, a bulwark against affliction. Prayer wipes out conflict, is the work of Angels, the nourishment of all Spirits. Prayer is future gladness, action without end, wellspring of virtues, source of grace, hidden progress, food of the soul, enlightenment of the mind, an axe laid to the root of despair, hope demonstrated, sorrow done away with. Prayer is the wealth of monks, the treasure of hermits, anger diminished. Prayer is a mirror of progress, a demonstration of success, evidence of one’s condition, the future revealed, a sign of glory” (Ladder, step 28).
I want to finish now with a little thought about Our Lady. “A minori ad maius” - “from the lesser to the greater”. If the widow of the parable, how much more then the Queen of heaven? Our Blessed Lady prays not just assiduously and perseveringly, but ceaselessly, and her prayer is always heard. St. John Henry Newman did not hesitate to describe Our Lady’s prayer as omnipotent. She prays against her enemy the devil, and on behalf of her children, which is us, and whatever she asks for, she gets. We can think if we will of Mary as standing before the eternal Judge, asking him for mercy for us. Yes of course God is the source of mercy himself; of course he is the one who inspires this prayer; of course mercy comes to us through the blood of Jesus. Still: when I face death at the end of my life, I shall entrust my soul and my salvation to the intercession of our Blessed Lady. I shall turn to her as my mother, and my hope and confidence will rest in the inability of her Son ever to refuse her request.