Dear Friends,

Winners never quit and quitters never win. Did you ever have a coach or a teacher or a parent tell you that when you were a child? It’s still great advice. Perseverance is a powerful virtue but it is a tough one. It’s hard to keep going when it appears that we’re making no progress. But that is exactly the advice which Jesus gives to His disciples. Persevere in prayer. Never give up. Believe that God hears you and that God will answer when the time is right. It doesn’t mean that God will answer in the way that we want, but that God will answer. We are not abandoned. We are not alone.
The breakthrough in humanity’s understanding of our relationship to God was in the first words of the prayer which Jesus taught. Our Father. God is a loving father, not a fierce being detached from us and our concerns. Our Father. Not “my” Father, but “our” Father. We are a part of a community of believers. We are One in God through Christ and the Holy Spirit. It’s never us against them, but all of us before the throne of a loving God who is our father.
Each word of this most perfect prayer is worthy of an extensive, prayerful study. In just the first two words, Jesus turns upside down the world’s pattern of prayer and invites to see God in an entirely different light. No matter how bleak the circumstances, those two words alone give us the hope to persevere.
Peace and Good Will,

 Fr. Bob