There’s something that Parents of small children come to learn very quickly. It’s the fact that once their kids are old enough to engage them in conversation, which is like at 2 years old, their kids begin to demonstrate an outstanding memory for the things that they have been promised them by their parents! If Mom said, “We’re going to go to Grampa’s on Sunday.”
Then when Sunday comes around they’ll be expecting to go to Grampa’s ... and it won’t be easy to change plans because they’ll be very disappointed. Kids quickly develop a great memory for promises that Parents make to them. Another example would be if Dad said, “I’ll bring you back a prize from my business trip.” Then when he returns from his trip, you can bet they’ll be looking forward to whatever prize Dad has for them. And God forbid he forgets ... they’ll be mighty disappointed.

Yes, Children have a way of remembering Parent’s promises with great clarity. And more than just remember them ... they’re going to push their parents to make good on their promises.
And if the promises aren’t fulfilled right away, the Kids are going to remember and ask for them over and over again ... often until they get what they were promised! I remember my brothers and I going to Mom or Dad many times with the words, “But you said we would do this.” or “You said I could have that.” And often times we didn’t let it go ... we just kept on saying, “Aw, C’mon Mom, you promised!” “Hey Dad... remember? ... you promised!” It’s amazing how quickly this self-taught skill (of persistently asking for something we’ve been promised) shows up in children and it stays with them as they grow up.

Well, this skill is one that God wants very much for us to use ... on Him! Yes, God wants us to use this skill on Him! You see, we are His Children and He has definitely made many promises to us. What are some of the promises God has made?

He has promised us that He hears our every prayer and He loves to give Good things to us. He has promised us that He will be there to help us whenever we call upon Him in need.
He has promised us that He will never leave us ... that He will be with us always till the end of time. He has promised us that He will forgive us for our sins every time we ask for forgiveness. He has promised us that He will takes us to Heaven if we listen to His Son, Jesus.

These are just a few of God’s many promises to us. And it’s His great desire that we first of all remember these promises ... that we have the memory of a child for them and never let them out of our mind, which is another reason why God gave us the Third Commandment ... to keep holy the Lord’s Day by coming here and being reminded of his promises ... His Promises of Love and Care and Faithfulness and Mercy ... and Heaven. And then God wants us to implore Him to make good on His promises ... in a persistent, unrelenting way, just as a Child ... continuously calls upon their Parents to make good on their promises.

The way that we do this; the way that we beseech God to make good on His many promises ... is to speak to Him in prayer. Prayer is dialog with God ... it is lifting the heart, the mind and the spirit to God. It’s opening ourselves to contact with the Almighty. And God wants us to do this ... regularly and often.

Notice how Luke begins our Gospel passage today, “Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary.” It reflects back to our First Reading where Moses grew weary holding up his hands. Scripture says, “As long as Moses kept his hands raised up, Israel had the better of the fight, but when he let his hands rest, Amalek had the better of the fight.” How many people there are who are letting their hands rest and are not praying! Today we’re not in battle with the Amalekites. No, we’re in battle with a much greater forces ... the devil and the world. So, it’s even more important that we keep our hands raised in prayer. If we keep our hands up in Prayer, things will go well in our battles. But if our hands drop from Prayer, things will go poorly in our battles.

Jesus emphasizes the importance of being persistent in Prayer in his Parable today about the widow who relentlessly called upon the Judge for a just decision. That woman knew that the Judge had the power to answer her request ... and so she determinedly called upon him day after day without ceasing. Jesus wants us to see that God has the power to answer all of our prayers. Do you believe that?

Listen again to the Responsorial Response that you just prayed: “Our help is from the Lord, who made Heaven and Earth.” You just said that ... five times. Do you believe that ... or were they just words? If the Lord made Heaven & Earth... then the Lord can do anything & everything. So why are you not going to Him persistently in prayer? Jesus wants us to be like the persistent widow and call out to God day and night. Yet, God may not always answer our prayers the way we would like. God may have to be like a father, who has to refuse the request of a child because he knows that what the child has asked for will hurt them rather than help them.

Or maybe God has other plans for us that we just aren’t seeing at the time. For instance, looking back, I can clearly see that God wasn’t answering my prayers for a wife and family because He really wanted me to serve Him as a Priest! The way we communicate with God is through Prayer. It’s in Prayer that we tap into the wisdom and power of God to help us through life. And when we stop praying, we operate on our own wisdom and power and we’re going to lose the battle of life. Which is why God doesn’t want us to stop praying. He doesn’t want us to lose.

Reflecting on our First Reading, could the fact that Moses climbed to the top of a hill away from the battle symbolize that we too need to find a place set apart from the battles of this life to effectively be with God in prayer? Could the need for Moses to keep his hands raised up in battle symbolize the need for us to keep our own hands raised in prayer? And could the propping up of Moses’ arms symbolize the need for us to do whatever it takes to remain steady in prayer?

Do you ever become weary in saying your prayers? Does the act of praying rank alongside other things that you’d rather not do? Things like exercise, and eating right and cleaning the car and the house? Well, what happens when you don’t regularly exercise or eat right or clean ... Pretty soon you’re not doing them at all ... right? Well, it’s the same with praying ... unless you keep beginning again ... you’ll soon stop praying ... which diminishes your faith.

Today Paul exhorts us, “Remain faithful to what you have learned and believed.” And Jesus speaks a convicting message to us today when He asks: “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?” I’m sure you’ve had times where you’ve tried to pray and been distracted. And I’m sure they’ve been other times where you went to pray but were very tired.. Praying is not always easy. Often we have to push ourselves to finish our prayers. St. Paul encourages us in this today saying: “Be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient.” So the clear message from God and all Scripture is to be persistent in prayer. You see, God sees all of time and He knows what is best for us in the long run. That’s why we must persist and never be discouraged in prayer.

As our Responsorial Psalm proclaimed, “God neither slumbers nor sleeps ... he is beside you at your right hand.” Let’s become like children and remember the great promises that God has made to us. His promise to listen to our prayers, His promise to help us in time of need, His promise to heal us and forgive us, His promise to take us home to Heaven. And let’s call upon God to make good on His promises ... by faithfully and persistently calling out to Him in prayer.