There are two striking points about out readings this Sunday: we must persevere in prayer and never forget the poor.

Persevere in Prayer

This theme is an echo from last Sunday. Jesus was generous in healing the ten lepers, yet receive the thanksgiving of only one. The outsider, a Samaritan, was the only one who returned to Jesus and his thanksgiving lead him to worship.

We hear from the prophet Sirach today who affirms that prayer comes from the depths of one’s interior life, “The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds; it does not rest till it reaches its goal, nor will it withdraw till the Most High responds, judges justly and affirms the right, and the Lord will not delay.” Never give up on prayer. Over the years I have learned that God invites us to persevere in prayer so that our intentions mature, we learn to ask from the heart. Prayer does not change God; prayer changes us.

The prophet reminds us not only of perseverance in prayer, but that in prayer we recognize God’s care for widow and orphan, God is close to the brokenhearted, and those crushed in spirit he saves.

Another example of prayer is found in the tax collector who beats his chest asking for God’s mercy. He won God’s favor over the Pharisee who listed his righteous deeds. God wants our inner transformation over our works. When we start with the heart, it is then that our hearts move to serve and action. It is through our hearts that we find Jesus in the poor.

Never Forget the Poor

When Saint Mother Teresa recieved the Nobel Peace Prize, she remarked,

“We are wanting to proclaim the good news to the poor that God loves them, that we love them, that they are somebody to us, that they too have been created by the same loving hand of God, to love and to be loved. Our poor people are great people, are very lovable people, they do not need our pity and sympathy, they need our understanding love. They need our respect; they need that we treat them with dignity.”

The poor are not people to be studied or serviced. They are people to be encountered. They are our brothers and sisters who walk with us. The poor have much to teach us and one of the great lessons is that in seeing each other face to face, Jesus is revealed in the other.

Perhaps this is the attraction to Christianity. Christianity is not a self-help program. It is a road that invites us to meet God, be changed by him in Word and Eucharist, so that we can meet him in everyone, especially the poor.

The poor are not those in the streets. The poor are the widow, orphaned, those crushed in spirit, the rich who are empty inside, and the family that lives paycheck to paycheck. The poor has many faces. It is up to us to ask the Holy Spirit to see Christ in every situation.