But when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth? (Lk. 18:8)
My close friend, a devout Catholic, was diagnosed with an advanced stage of cancer some months ago. She was a woman of strong faith, passionately in love with Jesus and His Mother Mary. She believed that she would be healed by Jesus. Together with her family, we all prayed intensely for her healing even as her health slowly deteriorated.
I administered the Sacrament of Anointing to her for the final time in the presence of her grieving family. After the anointing, she looked at me with her customary beautiful smile and said, “Father, I know to Whom I am going.” Her words both edified me and brought tears to my eyes. She passed away a few days later, but her words are forever embedded in my mind and heart.
She clearly had unshakable faith that Jesus would heal her. This faith moved her to pray for healing till her last breath. Though she was not healed as she hoped, her perseverance in prayer had brought her to know Jesus Christ so intimately that she was ready to face death with the serenity and hope of being with Him forever in heaven.
I learned a lesson about persevering in prayer from her example. We do not persevere in prayer only because we want to get something from God or to have God do something for us. We also persevere in prayer because we want to have a true relationship with God. Whether we get what we are praying for or not, we keep on praying so that we can know and love the God who loves us and is always in control of our lives and all creation.
Jesus used the parable of the importunate widow in Luke 18:1-8 to teach us about “the necessity of praying always without becoming weary.” The widow approaches the judge incessantly because, despite his bad reputation as a godless judge, she knew that he had what she needed and he alone could give it to her. She kept on asking him, “Render a just decision for me against my adversary.” She did not stop until he caved in and gave her what she needed.
We, too, should approach God incessantly in prayer because He alone has what we truly need, and He can and wants to give it to us. He assures us that He will answer our prayers if we persevere in them, teaching, “Will not God secure the rights of His chosen ones who call out to Him day and night? I tell you, He will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.” Let us then approach Him in all our needs with that conviction that we have no other viable option, as David did: “I lift up my eyes to the mountain; whence shall help come to me? My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (Ps. 121).
In addition to persevering in asking for what we need, we should also persevere in prayer to keep our faith in God alive whether our prayers are answered or not. Jesus ends the parable with this question, “But when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?” Jesus does not want to return and see our hears full of fear and anxieties about our many needs. He wants to see in us a firm and lively faith based on His words to us.
St. Paul reminds us of why we must keep our faith in Jesus alive. Exhorting St. Timothy to remain faithful to the teachings of Christ always, he says, “Beloved, remain faithful to what you have learned and believed.” Timothy’s faithfulness should be guided by his faith in the word of God, for “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” It is impossible to be faithful to God without this faith in His words.
Timothy should also strive for this faithfulness to God’s words because of the coming judgement by Jesus, St. Paul points out: “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead and by His appearance and kingly power…” (see 2 Tim. 3:14-4:2). It is impossible to prepare for our final judgement without a strong faith in Jesus and His words to us.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we must personalize this question from Jesus and answer it sincerely from our hearts: But when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth? In other words, when Jesus returns in glory to judge each of us, what will He find in our hearts: fear or faith? Many people in our world today live in fear of wars, earthquakes, natural calamities, economic and political crises, but they do not have an iota of fear of the final judgement at the end of time. We fear creatures and their activities, but we have no fear for the Creator.
We are easily unfaithful to God because we do not have any fear of offending Him. Instead of being open to knowing and loving Him more, all our prayers can be directed at securing something from Him. We have a sense of our needs from God, but we have no sense of our need for God Himself. We bring our needs to prayer but we never surrender our hearts to Him. We crave God’s gifts, but we have no true reverence for Him.
Let us begin to pray today so that we have a true relationship with God in Jesus Christ. We must pray with perseverance if we are going to have an intimate knowledge of Him. When we pray with God’s words without ceasing, we gain access to the saving truth about His undying love for us and how we should respond to it. Incessant prayer also brings God’s grace into our hearts so that we can do His will with love.
Jesus comes to us in each Eucharist to strengthen us in faith. He knows the many fears that we face and the challenges to keep our faith in Him strong. He wants to see that faith alive in us when He returns in glory.
Receiving the Eucharist is not enough when unaccompanied by our own spiritual efforts to receive His sacramental grace. So let us persevere in prayer to God to sustain our faith, whether our prayers are answered or not. This way Jesus will find the gift of faith—and not worldly fears—in our hearts when He comes in glory.
Glory to Jesus!!! Honor to Mary!!!
Photo by LOGAN WEAVER | @LGNWVR on Unsplash
