St James Catholic Church

Dear Parishioners,

Many athletes can tell you how important stamina is to their success. In closing minutes of a game, it can often come down to who still has the energy to do their best and not run out of gas. Often our faith requires stamina as well. Beaten down by tragedies and disappointments, is our faith strong enough to enable us to persist in loving God and loving neighbor, to pursue justice and peace, to continue to build the Kingdom of God? May hope, which we celebrate this Jubilee year, and with our theme “Hope and Prayer from Despair”, sustain us to the end of our days.

Scripture scholars believe that Jesus’ ministry lasted about three years. The Gospel narratives of his preaching, miracles, parables, and encounters with others took up only a small fraction of that time. No doubt Jesus spent a lot of days, week in and week out, traveling from village to village. One can imagine that after a year or two of this, many of his disciples got tired or restless. It makes sense that he would address today’s parable especially to his disciples. Maybe he even noticed their bodies dragging and their spirits floundering. Thus, he impresses upon them the need for persistence in their prayer, in their intensity, in their ministry, and in their faith. If even a dishonest judge responds to a persistent person, so much more will God. In a world where there are so many sick people, armies killing one another, and people suffering from persistent injustice, it would be easy to conclude that God does not answer the prayers of people in need. Jesus is right to wonder if anyone will still have faith in God by the time he returns. But He himself is the answer to the prayers of those in need. He himself is proof that when God intervened in the most concrete way possible out of love for us, it was not to end all the world’s suffering, but to share that suffering with us and win our salvation. In this year of hope, can we remain hopeful that God will address our needs and use that hope to help us persist in prayer?

Love, Peace, Joy,

Fr. Bob