Document: pub/resources/text/taize/johannine: jh9405.txt
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Johannine Hour from the Taize Community in France
May 1994  - Luc 18,1-8

Sometimes we are faced with difficult situations in our lives, with
injustice. In such situations we can find that we are helpless, like the
poor widow in the parable. Is there still any reason to pray? What is
the meaning of prayer? Our prayer seems worthless.

How then can we pray unceasingly (v.1)? Jesus knows that we have this
question in us. That is why he tells the story of a widow and an
unscrupulous judge. It is a disconcerting example, not at all a pious
story! Jesus does not want to make pious demands on us that will only
exasperate us. "To pray without losing heart," like the poor widow, is
not a law imposed upon us. Instead, we discover that perseverance has
meaning. Constancy in prayer is what matters most, and not the form of
our prayer, or a particular method, or a lot of fine words.

Why? The only thing the woman has on her side is time. For a long time
(v.4) she keeps going back to the unjust judge, over and over again.
Time is her friend; it's all she has. The widow only knows a few words.
She keeps repeating them to the judge: "Give me justice!" (v.3). As time
goes by, her arguments do not get any better. But something happens;
something changes.

And the Lord said, "Listen to the unjust judge" (v.6). That judge is the
utter opposite of God, and yet he says that he will give justice. How
much more will God, who is justice itself, give justice! God is not far
away; God knows; God is near.

What helps me realize that time is on my side? How can I find the time
to pray in daily life?

What are those few words which suffice for me personally in prayer, and
which I can entrust to Christ?

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