Losing Heart?

A reading for Wednesday, February 8, 2017: Luke 18:1-8.

Jesus told the crowd a parable in order that they "pray always and not to lose heart." It seems we live in an age when losing heart as followers of Jesus is as pertinent as in any age.

There is rancor and disruption in almost every time-tested institution, including the church. The needs of the world are massive, including over 65 million refugees (the highest amount ever). Our technology and twenty-four hour cycle of communication keeps us in constant knowledge of the first two. Losing heart seems like the only choice...

Yet Jesus urges us to continue to pray without ceasing, just as the woman does in the parable with the judge. God will not leave us or abandon us. Pray without ceasing, if for no other reason than in doing so you testify to yourself as to where our help will come. God surrounds us with the love of Christ...

You need to be generous to yourself in order to receive the love that surrounds you.

You can suffer from a desperate hunger to be loved.

You can search long years in lonely places, far outside yourself.

Yet the whole time, this love is but a few inches away from you.

It is at the edge of your soul, but you have been blind to its presence.

We must remain attentive in order to be able to receive.

-John O’Donohue