They brought a grandmother to the intensive care department. She kept moving her lips. After a few hours, the sister put her ear to the grandmother’s lips. Although it was impossible to communicate with the grandmother, she did not answer the questions of the staff; the nurse heard silent words of prayer. Grandma prayed. Whoever knew her and many around her said it aloud: How can this woman bear it in her life? When she was carrying a fifth child under her heart, a man was killed by a tree in the forest. They burned down that year. Even then, she took care of her bedridden mother-in-law. And this woman did not complain to anyone. She also found time for Holy Mass at least once or two on the working days of the week. The children were clean and decent; she put them in schools… When they got married and married, she took care of her grandchildren. She didn’t say much, but they often saw the rosary in her hands. No one has said an ugly word to her in her life. She was not angry with anyone. No one could deny her anything when she asked for something. On the third day in the intensive care department, as quietly as she lived, she died quietly; she just stopped moving her lips.
Prayer. What is behind this word? What do we know about prayer? What about our prayer? Even today, current issues.
St. John, the Evangelist Luke, wrote, “Jesus told the disciples a parable of how to pray all the time and not falter” (Lk 18:1).
The gospel text speaks of the last things of the world to prepare for, namely prayer. We would be mistaken if we said we should pray from morning to night and always be on our knees. However, this does not mean that regular, pious, focused, persistent prayer of various kinds and content in every place we live should not have a place in our lives. Our life is supposed to be a truly intimate conversation with God. Prayer teaches love for God, neighbor, and oneself. The figure of the gospel judge is not a Gentile but a Jew who does not practice the faith, who lives as if he were never to appear before his God, the Judge, after death. He was not interested in justice or public opinion; he delivered unjust judgments and was not interested in the oppressed. The second character from the gospel, the widow, represents misery and helplessness and is alone and exploited. However, the widow is persistent and stubborn. He will not give the judge peace of mind until patience has passed him by. The judge, although not for justice, to have respite from the widow, takes up her dispute.
The parable is our lesson. When an unrighteous person complies with an intrusive widow, how much more righteous and goodwill does God assert the righteous cause of His faithful against their enemies? Jesus’ disciples in this world will be victims of injustice on the part of the children of this world. Believers will endure the hardships of this world, but as they take their duties faithfully beside God to the end, Christ in His second coming will become their reward. This does not mean that after one prayer, God will interfere. Prayer should therefore be done in faith, hope, and love. It is not free to be disgusted. Our prayer is supposed to be a protest against evil. The time of Christ’s second coming into the world is unknown; therefore, those who believed in His love should persevere in their prayer, praying continually. We are taught not to lose patience in prayer. Jesus is urging us to persevere. God did not give us the gift of prayer to answer each of our prayers immediately by a miracle. Even if he does not respond right away, God is not silent. Prayer is also an expression of our faith. There is no need to talk much about it. God knows our needs before we pronounce them. After all, God is love.
The parable of the judge and the widow is an invitation to God’s children, believers, to learn to live in the trust of God. Although we take many things for granted from God, it is necessary to realize at least from time to time: Who is God, and who are we? What is our mission on earth? Where is our goal? How do we use the means to achieve the purpose of our lives? We are rightly required to keep our lives in harmony with his words. Our life’s actions must not contradict his laws. When we understand that faithfulness should reign among us if we want to stand before men, it goes without saying that God requires us equally perseverance in good faith, keeping and fulfilling His commands and words. This parable should provoke a reaction to self-questioning of conscience. At the parable’s end, Jesus asks: Prayer and every deed are not to be done soullessly on our part. Our lives should bear the seal of faith. I know what I’m doing and why I’m doing it. Thus, the words and deeds we manifest outwardly speak of our love, hope, and faith in God, even if someone around us notices it or not.
When John, with a heart attack, was brought to the hospital, he immediately asked to visit the priest. The doctor gave her consent. John quietly remarked, “For the years, I have been praying for a happy hour of death.” The priest came and served him the sacraments. The guys in the room were smiling. “He is afraid of death. We are also after heart attacks, and we don’t talk right away,” the elderly man remarked in the room so that the priest could hear it too. He smiled but also noted seriously: “Just so I will not be here with you tomorrow, and it will not be too late!” When the sister entered the room in the morning and stopped at John’s bedside, the taunters weighed up. John was dead. And it’s no wonder the older man had already asked his sister in the morning to call a priest for him, too. He came, and not a single one refused his service. While recounting the event, one remarked, “I have been praying daily since then for a happy hour of death.” It is true that many do not pray today. Or we don’t pray. We pray little. The quality of prayer is declining. And yet, prayer belongs in our lives at least as much as we breathe. Do we know that the body needs oxygen and the soul should not need prayer? We do not doubt the correct human lifestyle, and should we underestimate the lifestyle of the soul? Looking in the mirror or our palms should not cause us anger that we are getting older, but, on the contrary, the idea that we are approaching God. And so the questioning of conscience is the sight of the face of our soul and the palms of our hands. It is fitting that, in addition to work, they know how to unite the prayer. Who among us dares to say that I will pray later? Those who have already been seriously ill, who feel the heavy cross of old age, we know that then prayer is complicated, more complex than today when we are healthy and have many plans and dreams to prove something. It is right for us to consider meeting God the Judge and arrange things in our lives accordingly.
I know a man who has lost his arms. He has no hands, yet he prays the rosary with them. He feels his fingers and the grains in them. When he still had his hands, he often held the rosary in them. When he lost his hands, he did not chuckle but thanked God for still letting him live. They have to take care of him, but no one has yet told him, from his dearest ones, that he does nothing and is a daredevil. A woman knows what children, grandchildren, and others know, that he is praying for them. They pray with him. He is, for them, a model of peace, the joy of life.
And we know that the hustle and bustle, the tension, must be in life. We must also have responsibilities. But is it right not to forget the words of the Lord Jesus: “But will the Son of Man find faith on earth when He comes” (Lk 18:8)? If we act like men from today’s stories, then everything is fine.
And the grandmother, perhaps, in the intensive care department, did not know what was happening around her. She prayed. She did it all her life, and God did not disappoint her. Surely he did not disappoint her even when she breathed her last. Prayer conquers heaven.
