To pray with insistence “is a bit like annoying God”, Pope Francis said in his homily at Casa Santa Marta. However, praying in such a way shows a complete trust that God will fufill your needs.
The Holy Father reflected on the Gospel of Matthew which recalls the two blind men who followed him calling out, “Son of David, have pity on us.” Jesus himself, he said, “taught us how to pray like the annoying friend who begs for food a midnight.”
“Maybe this sounds strange, the Pope said, but praying is a bit like annoying God so that he listens to us. But, the Lord says: like the friend at midnight, or the widow before the judge… And this was also done by those lepers who approached him: “If you want to, you can heal us!’”
“They did it with a certain confidence. This is how Jesus teaches us how to pray. When we pray, we think sometimes: ‘ But, yes, I say this need, a tell the Lord one, two, three times, but not with much strength. Then I tire of asking Him and I forget to ask him.’ These cried to Him and they did not tire of crying. Jesus tells us: ‘Ask’, but he also says: ‘Knock on the door’, and he who knocks on the door makes noise, disturbs, annoys.”
The Holy Father went on to say that although this persistence may seem annoying, it is also a sign of unwavering trust, just as the blind men. These two attitudes are vital in prayer, he stressed: to be needy and to be certain.
Concluding his homily, Pope Francis called on the faithful to reflect on their own prayers and if they have these two attitudes. “Needy, because we tell ourselves the truth, and certain, so that we believe that the Lord can do that which we ask,” he said.
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