"Prayer, Persistence, and Fidelity" - 29th Sunday Homily by Deacon Ted

Today's readings are all about prayer.

But they're just not about prayer.

They're some specific instructions on how to pray and to be persistent and persevering.

And lastly, we must all have fidelity to God.

So prayer, persistence, fidelity.

Three things.

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Prayer.

In the first reading, they're going into battle.

Joshua's taking the Israelites into battle and Moses climbs the hill.

with Hur and Aaron.

And as the battle ensues, as long as Moses keeps his arms up with the staff of God, the battle goes well for the Israelites.

But as soon as his hands get lowered, as he gets tired, as he draws weary, the battle changes.

So Aaron and Hur both help him.

They find something for him to sit on and both Aaron and Hur support his hands to keep them up.

And you're probably wondering, what does battle and raising your arms on a mountaintop have to do with prayer?

So what do you think Moses was doing on that hilltop?

And why do you think he went up there?

So in the Old Testament, you wanted to be close to God, if you wanted to ensure that God heard your prayer, you went up as high as you could.

Some cases that meant getting on the roof of your house.

Some cases that meant going up on a hill.

Some places that meant going up a very high mountain.

Because the closer you were they believed, the more God could hear them.

and their prayer would be answered.

And so here's Moses on this hill, praying by holding his hands up for a success in the battle.

But just like us, he gets tired.

He gets weary.

The battle goes all day long, morning till sundown.

And Moses has to keep his hands up.

So Moses enlists the help of Aaron and Hur And they support his hands.

So now it's just not Moses praying, but there's three of them praying.

They're all on a hill and they're all praying together for the success of the battle and all helping each other to ensure that God hears the prayer.

So the first lesson I want you to take away is that prayer is good and is needed and we should pray it every day.

but it's more effective when we pray together.

It's more effective when people join in prayer.

So, I might ask everyone here to stand up who prays every day.

No, don't have to.

Yeah, I got one guy go, oh, me, me.

But just think about what you're doing when you pray.

Think about the Mass being the greatest prayer the church has to offer God, the holy sacrifice of the Mass, the Eucharist, the remembering, the reproposing of God's sacrifice.

and we're all praying that prayer together.

How powerful is that?

Now the Holy Catholic Church in its wisdom, here's what God says today.

It says, the more people who pray, the greater the prayer.

So there's parishes just like us celebrating this mass all around the world.

How powerful do you think that prayer is and does God hear it?

I would submit He does.

Now we pray for our individual needs.

We may pray for ourselves.

God, help me get out of bed this morning.

We may pray for our family members.

God, help my children get out of bed this morning.

We may pay for the guy next door.

God, let him go to sleep so I can go to bed tonight.

Whoever we're praying for, that's enhancing our prayer too.

So, there's power in prayer and there's power in more people praying.

And think about the church throughout the world.

Probably at every hour of the day, there is a mass being said somewhere.

So God looks down upon the earth and says, do they remember me?

and hears the prayers coming up and it's consistent because God wants consistency.

So two, perseverance.

Moses got tired.

His hands fell to his side.

And we get tired.

And we often pray for things that are short sighted.

If I'm in school, I'm praying for success on a test.

If I'm on a long road trip, I'm praying to make it to my destination safely.

If I'm just the average person, I'm praying that things go okay for me today.

So most prayer is short lived and when your prayer is answered we go, thank you God and we put God away until we need him again and then we take him out, You said what happens?

Does that happen to any one of us?

Or as soon as that prayer is answered do we say, Lord I don't mean to be pushy.

Lord I don't mean to keep complaining.

But here is another prayer.

Here's a prayer maybe in Thanksgiving for the prayer of your answer.

Maybe here's a prayer again for someone else's supplication or intercession.

That's what the lady in the gospel was all about.

She didn't say, I asked, he said, no, I'm done.

She went back and back and back and eventually, who do you think convinced the judge to do the right thing?

I think it was the judge's mother, which they don't talk about, but it's probably God.

Because God heard her prayer and her perseverance and answered her prayer.

But now we get to the third lesson of today, fidelity.

So the gospel says very clearly in the last line, which doesn't fit with the rest of the reading, but when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?

What do you think that means?

Well, prayer is one indication of our faith.

When we pray, we enter into a conversation with God.

As long as we keep that conversation with God open and flowing, God knows we are faithful to Him.

As a collective, as long as we come to mass on Sunday and the community continues to gather, that prayer goes up and God knows we are faithful.

And God knows we are faithful when we not only pray, but we take action.

We take action to help those who are in need.

We bring food for the pantry.

We donate for families who are in need.

We do collections.

We offer our help in any way we can to help others.

Our actions are part of that fidelity.

God doesn't just want words.

He wants us to believe in Him and to believe that He will answer and to keep working toward it.

Prayer, persistence, fidelity.

As long as we believe that God hears our prayer and God will answer us, we are having fidelity.

And I just want to point out one other thing.

There's a phrase in here that, will God not then secure the rights of the chosen ones who call out day and night?

I tell you, He will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.

What if my prayer isn't answered speedily?

What if my prayer drags on for weeks, months, years?

You say God, you're supposed to answer me speedily.

Well, he is in his time and he is probably in ways that you're not praying for.

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But just let it be known.

By God not answering your prayer in what you expect, He's answering your prayer.

He's answering your prayer because you keep praying.

He's answering your prayer because the line of communication stays open.

He's answering your prayer because you are growing in fidelity and He has given you time to draw closer to Him, to give more.

to pray more, to draw more.

So God is answering.

God is answering speedily.

Fidelity.

Just keep up the good work.