Being a Persistent Prayer

This weekend, I felt a little bit like Abraham in Sunday's first reading. I was preoccupied by the weekend absence of my eldest son, and felt like I was bombarding God with my prayer requests.

Please keep them safe on the bus. Please help him to meet some great kids and find a few new friends. Please let his heart be touched. Please help him to follow all of the rules. Please let him remember to brush his teeth. Please bring him home soon...

You get the point, I was being a pest! I was feeling distracted in Mass when it came time for the readings. I tried to quietly calm my heart to truly hear them. That first reading, where Abraham keeps asking God over and over if he will spare Sodom if there are even a few good people in town, really hit home. Then the gospel reading came along and Jesus ensured me that it was OK to be so persistent in my prayer. With his disciples asking Jesus to teach them to pray, He offered them the perfect formula for prayer. He then gave those wonderful words of hope and encouragement for all of the prayer pests like me:

“And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. "

Isn't it wonderful to have a God who loves us so much! Although His answers to my persistent prayers may not always be as immediate or as directed as I would like, I intend to keep knocking with the full confidence that His love for me is boundless and that even one mom's prayers are heard and known.