Lk 18:1-8
There’s no doubt that we live in a materialistic and secular society.
But even here, spiritual undertones can be heard.
Murmuring below the surface.
If we want to play a little word game,
We can often take a popular phrase or saying, or song.
And hear it in a spiritual/religious context that the author never intended.
At least never consciously intended.
And yet the words make perfect sense in the spiritual context.
One example would be the Beatles hit song,
With a Little Help from My Friends.
Surely, John Lennon and Paul McCartney didn’t have today’s scripture in mind.
But their title, and famous refrain, echo an excellent sub-theme for that scripture.
The main theme of today’s scripture is perseverance.
Maintaining a purpose, in spite of difficulties or obstacles.
Perseverance itself can be difficult.
But it can be easier to stick with it if we have someone to help us.
How does Joshua overcome the difficulties and obstacles of battle?
How does he persevere and ultimately prevail?
With a little help from his friend Moses—who holds his staff in the air.
How does Moses, with his tired old arms, manage to keep that staff held high?
With a little help from his friends Aaron and Hur.
(And who is really helping Moses help Joshua? His friend God.)
We heard part of Paul’s Letter to Timothy.
How does Paul overcome the difficulties and obstacles of spreading the Good News?
And how does Timothy get encouragement to persevere?
Each with a little help from his friends.
In the Gospel Jesus tells of the perseverance of the widow seeking a just judgement.
And he tells us to imitate her.
And to pray always, without becoming weary.
What does he mean by “always”?
Does he mean continuously, without ceasing?
Or just frequently and repeatedly?
Praying ceaselessly could seem like an unrealistic goal.
Maybe the desert fathers could pray ceaselessly.
Maybe a modern day cloistered monk or nun can approach that.
But can we do that in today’s world?
Perhaps we can.
With a little help from our friends.
We have our friends, the priests.
They lead us in celebrating the Mass.
The Mass is perhaps our greatest prayer.
It contains prayers of thanksgiving.
Prayers of praise.
Prayers of petition.
And even the special prayer that Jesus taught us.
All wrapped together in this one celebration.
We have our friends, the parish community.
Many of them gathered here with us right now.
We have our friends the Catholic community around the world.
During the Mass, we pray specifically for them and they pray for us.
In 6th grade, Sister Agnes Marie told us that at every moment of every day,
Somewhere in the world,
Mass is being celebrated.
I haven’t done research to verify that, but I believe it’s true.
Celebration of the Mass never ceases.
And so, as a world group of Mass goers, we do pray always without ceasing.
We also have our friends around the world who say the Liturgy of the Hours throughout the day.
And they offer that as a prayer for the whole Church.
We have those who say countless rosaries and other prayers for the whole Church.
We’ve got friends around the world.
And we’ve got friends in high places.
We can count the saints in heaven and the souls in purgatory as our friends.
They pray for us until we rise up to join them.
Yes, we can even get high with a little help from our friends.
We have all of those friends to help us.
And even more—Jesus himself has called us his friends.
Yes, together as a group, as the Church, as the mystical body of Christ,
We do pray always and unceasingly.
But we should also strive, individually, to pray always and without ceasing.
Some holy people reach a point where they are so constantly aware of God,
And so focused on love of God and neighbor.
That their every act or thought becomes a prayer.
We can hope to someday achieve that level ourselves.
But until we get there, as we persevere toward that goal,
We can, each morning, offer to God all our actions and thoughts of the coming day.
We can continue to try with a little help from our friends.
And, at least, get by, with a little help from our friends.
