Patience, Perseverance, and Prayer
This week, I want to talk about something nobody likes being reminded of, especially me. The need for patience and perseverance in prayer. When we pray for something, we are usually looking for an immediate answer or sign, and while this can definitely happen, it doesn’t happen as often as we would like it to. Those moments where we are invited to wait, are also invitations to grow closer in relationship with God. When we don’t seem to receive an answer, it is an opportunity to lean even more into prayer. Enter patience and perseverance. A great example of this among the saints is St. Monica. The mother of St. Augustine, St. Monica prayed for his conversion for NINE years. God’s timing is not ours. God sees the entire picture and knows just when the right time is. But because of our limited perspective and brokenness, it is difficult to trust and to wait on God.
Prayer is relationship with God. It’s how you spend time with Him and get to know Him. It’s also how you share your thoughts, feelings, needs, and whatever else with Him. And just like with other relationships, there are different levels of prayer. The Frs. Thomas Acklin and Boniface Hicks, O.S.B wrote an incredibly in-depth book about growing in relationship with God called, Personal Prayer: A Guide to Receiving the Father’s Love. In it they talk about the different levels of prayer and what it means to be vulnerable with God. Being vulnerable is more than just sharing what’s on your heart and mind. It’s having a dialogue about it and asking God for His input and help. For example, I am currently praying through some vices and wounds, and I have been bringing them to God and asking Him questions like “What is the root, Lord?” and “What do I need to do next?” Not all of my questions have been answered, but I have faith that they will be. This brings us to the patience and perseverance part.
There is something that my mom said a while ago that has stuck with me. I have no idea where she heard it, but she said, “Patience is the banana of spiritual fruits. It spoils the quickest, so you have to ask for it the most.” You know that feeling you get when you have to begrudgingly admit that something or someone is right? That’s how I felt after hearing that. Patience is not my strong suit, and I had been praying for patience for a while at that point. Another thing I had neglected to remember was what God (played by Morgan Freeman) said in the movie Evan Almighty, “When people pray for patience, do you think God gives them patience? Or doe He give them opportunities to be patient?” God rarely answers prayers in the way that we want or expect. He answers according to His timing and His will. He gives people chances to be patient. God invites us to cooperate with His grace, and in doing so, grow closer to Him.
Perseverance is the same in the sense that it is something that you have to choose. With patience, you can either choose to wait or not. With perseverance, you can either choose to keep going or give up. Now, I will say that sometimes you do need to let go of things, but that isn’t the same as giving up. Perseverance in prayer means that, when you can’t see what’s going on or when something might happen, you keep praying anyway, trusting that the Lord is taking care of things.
St. Padre Pio said, “Pray, hope, and don’t worry.” That is the essence of patience and perseverance in prayer. Pray; and take everything to God. Hope; by persevering in prayer and waiting on the Lord’s answer. Don’t worry; by placing your trust in Our Blessed Lord and saying to Him with all your heart, “Jesus, you take care of it.” This is the method by which we empty ourselves and surrender to the Will of God. So, pray, keep praying, and believe that God will move.
