The readings today offer various aspects of prayer for our consideration. There is the spiritual discipline of prayer itself, which is essential to the life of the disciple: there is the communal dimension of prayer; and there is the ministerial commitment that is born of prayer. Our personal prayer must be persistent. Like Moses and the woman in the gospel reading, we must be ceaseless in our prayer, not discouraged by difficulties that we might have to face. Regardless of how strange the first reading may appear to be, it very strongly emphasises the communal dimension of prayer.
As minister of the word, Timothy is admonished to keep preaching the gospel, to keep spreading the good news, to allow the scriptures to continue to be a source of wisdom for himself and, through him, for all of the people who hear him. To have this kind of facility with Scripture requires that one enter into the deep meaning of the Scriptures and make them the basis of one’s prayer. One must engage in what the monks call lectio divina, prayerful reflective reading of the scriptures. This practice, or spiritual discipline, gives us access to God and it also gives God access to us. It gives us the courage and the gentleness to teach, to refute, to correct. When our ministerial activity flows from prayer, it also flows from and strengthens right relationships with God and with the community. When this becomes a reality, the Son of Man will indeed find faith on earth.
© Dianne Bergant CSA, https://www.liturgyhelp.com/calendar/date/2025Oct19/0/RefDiBer