Weekly HOMILY for October 17, 2010: Perseverance: A Three Legged Stool

29th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C
Bon Secours Spiritual Center
October 17, 2010

Perseverance: A Three Legged Stool
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


WALT DISNEY

A young man wanted very much to become a writer from the time he was a child. When he was 21 and just out of college he was able to get a staff position with a local paper in town.

After a few months work, he was fired for his lack of imagination.

The young man was penniless but resolute. He had to sleep on an old worn out sofa and eat cold beans out of a can, but his determination kept his dream of one day becoming a creative writer alive.

He went on to have that dream realized.

The man? Walt Disney!


TODAY'S SCRIPTURE

What makes some folks succeed against all odds and others “crash and burn” at the smallest obstacle?

Today’s Scriptures offer us an answer and quite appropriately in the area of persevering in prayer.

Moses in the first reading and the widow in the third, are concrete examples of how perseverance works and how it gets us through rough times to feelings of success.

On their way to the Promised Land, the Jewish People pass through territory controlled by another nomadic tribe and a tribal war breaks out.

Moses picks out a high spot and, as was the custom of commanders of his day, holds his staff high over his heard to encourage his troops. While his arms are up, his soldiers are winning.

He grows weary after a while, but persists nonetheless. Others come to his aid with a rock to sit on: after a while Aaron and Hur support his arms.

A similar model for perseverance is portrayed in the Gospel where a poor widow without power to control, without money to bribe, without friends to influence is able to get an important magistrate to rule in her favor.

Luke’s Gospel reads: “For a time he (the judge) refused, but finally he thought, ‘I care little for God or man, but this widow is wearing me out. I am going to settle in her favor or she will end by doing me violence.’”

What Moses and the widow are confronted with is turmoil, tension and violence and through it, they maintain a perseverance that brings them success. So it was with Walt Disney.

Unfortunately, many of us give up because we may not looking at what makes perseverance possible.

I would like to suggest that for a clearer understanding of what it takes to be successful at prayer – contemplative prayer – can be compared to a three-legged stool.


INTENTION

The first leg is intention. To get through an ordeal, to accomplish a goal, to persevere in living a contemplative lifestyle something has to be important to you. To have an intention is to put your desire into words.

Like the God whom we image, we too have the ability to create out of nothing and where previously no-thing existed, our intention has us creating a friendship, or healing, or forgiveness, or reading a new book, or making time for prayer.

Both Moses and the widow have a clear intention. They each know what they want and can state it.


SUPPORT

Once we have declared ourselves, we need to be willing to ask or accept the support of others.

Support does not mean they take over responsibility for my intention. It means they keep me responsible and challenged. They help me meet the challenge at hand.

It is wonderful the way some folks come to Moses with a rock to sit on and how Aaron and Hur literally hold up his arms. But note, Moses is still the one with the staff in his hands.


TRUST

The third leg of perseverance in prayer is trust.

We need to believe that God will be with us and sustain us in our efforts.

In the Gospel, the poor widow believes that she is right and that God will sustain her to secure justice. Jesus praises her perseverance and compares it to the trust that we should have when we pray to the Father.

So, if we are going through some dry periods of prayer or so busy that time for contemplative prayer takes a back seat, we need to trust that making time is very important even though we think working may be more productive at this moment.

Trust gets us through times when priorities shift dangerously away from our goals.


CONCLUSION

Milking stools are three-legged so they can sit stably on uneven ground.

The 3-legged stool for perseverance in prayer – intention, support and trust – likewise puts us in a stable position for successful grounding.