“How come I end up doing all the work around here?” “Nobody seems to care that I put in so much time on this!” “Try to be unselfish and people walk all over you!” “Why bother to be good” “It’s the bad people that are having all the fun!” These are whines that have been aged to perfection.
If this feast of Our Lady of the Rosary is about anything, it’s about trusting persistence in prayer, not whining because we haven’t yet gotten what we want.
Jesus says, “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. (Luke 11:5-13)
I remember praying for, and getting my job with Thrifty Drug Stores back in 1980. I was elated! I was going to be working for a company that had a proven track record with great benefits and the opportunity for rapid advancement.
After 13 years though, the company was undergoing some organizational changes, and it was rumored that it wouldn’t be long before they folded. I prayed that it wouldn’t happen, but I also prayed for a couple of other things: Sundays off (to attend Mass, because my current job title required that I work every Sunday, so I wasn’t able to fulfill my obligation), and that I could be transferred somewhere closer to my mom (because my location and hours were such that I hardly saw her, despite living less than a half-hour away).
After 6 months or so of praying persistently, Thrifty phased my job out of existence and let me go in 1993. I was feeling pretty let down, and wondered why God had not answered my prayers.
Less than two weeks later, I applied for, and was offered my job at U-Haul. The location I was assigned to was across the street from where my mother lived, and I was promised Sundays off! I was with U-Haul for 25 years, with frequent promotions allowing me more than just Sundays for worshipping God, and I retired in 2018 from a job I loved and thanked God for every day!
Keep asking. Keep seeking. Keep knocking. It’s not just about persistence, but persistence with a good friend who can be counted on. God is a better parent to us than we are to our own children.
When we find ourselves whining, it may be helpful to ask what is so awful about living in service of our God and one another. What is so distasteful about acting justly, loving tenderly, and walking humbly with our God? What’s happened to our value system that the material pleasures of those who seem far from God are more attractive than walking with Jesus at our side?
Through the prophet Malachi, God spoke similar words. “To those of you who trust I say: ‘You are mine’. I will make the sun of justice shine on you with its healing rays.” (Malachi 3:13-20). These are words of love and consolation for those who pray (and even lament) with persistence.
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