Never Give Up Hope

A young woman named Mary was just starting out as a high school teacher in the early 1960s. She very much wanted to succeed, but things were quite difficult—mainly because of one particular student:  a senior named Bill. He was very talented and intelligent, but also quite immature. Because of his rebellious attitude and his sense that the rules didn’t apply to him, Bill disrupted the class, was sometimes disrespectful, and almost made Mary a nervous wreck—and she wondered how she was going to make it to the end of the school year.

One morning before class Mary was sitting at her desk, writing something in shorthand. Bill came in and said, “Hey, teach—watcha writing?” “A prayer to God,” Mary answered. “Oh, yeah?” Bill replied. “God can read shorthand?” (Nowadays, of course, this conversation in a public high school would have gotten a teacher disciplined or even dismissed, but sixty years ago this wasn’t a problem.) As the other students entered, Mary slipped the paper in her Bible and began writing that day’s lesson on the board. When her back was turned, Bill—just to be ornery—pulled the paper out of the Bible and hid it in his own textbook, even though he couldn’t read shorthand. Somehow Mary made it through her first year of teaching; after Bill graduated with his class, she had no further contact with him.

Twenty years later Bill was the owner of a small but successful business; part of his success was due to his willingness to cut some corners and take ethical shortcuts—though he hadn’t yet crossed the line into seriously illegal business dealings. He was going through some things stored in his attic one evening when he came across his high school textbook from Mary’s class, and in it he discovered his former teacher’s prayer, now yellow and faded with age. The next morning Bill took it into his office and asked his secretary to decipher it. When she read it herself, the secretary blushed and said, “It’s rather personal. I’ll type it out and put it on your desk when I leave tonight.”

That evening, when the office was closed and everyone had gone home, Bill read the paper Mary had written all those years ago. It said: “Dear God, please don’t let me fail this job. I’m trying my best, but I can’t keep handling it if Bill continues upsetting me. Touch his heart, Lord. He’s someone who can become either very good or very evil.” The last line of his former teacher’s prayer struck Bill like a thunderbolt. Only hours before he had been contemplating a decision which probably would have committed him to a course of evil for the rest of his life. Mary’s prayer made him stop and think; he re-read it a number of times during the week that followed, and finally changed his mind about the evil he had been considering. Then Bill tracked down Mary, who was still teaching; he apologized for all the grief he had given her, and told her that, after twenty years, her prayer had finally been answered (Mark Link, S.J., Illustrated Sunday Homilies, Year C, Series I, p. 111). Sometimes prayers can take a long time to be answered—but God does hear and respond. It’s up to us to trust, and to persevere.

We must continue praying and remain strong in hope, no matter what. In the Gospel of Luke (18:1-8), Jesus uses an example of a widow who would not give up, despite the judge’s initial unwillingness to help her; her persistence finally led to justice being done. The Lord wants us to persevere, for—even if it seems to take a while—He will save those who trust in Him. We see this in the Book of Exodus (17:8-13) where Moses lifted up his arms as a gesture of prayer and intercession. It took all day, and he grew so tired he needed his friends to support him, but Moses persevered—and as a result, Israel won the victory. In his Letter to Timothy (2 Timothy 3:14-4:2), St. Paul instructs him to continue preaching the word and witnessing to the truth, without abandoning it or losing patience. In our own lives we have constant opportunities to practice our faith—and we must never grow tired of doing so.

Someone once said that prayer doesn’t change God; rather, it changes us—in the sense of making us more trusting and understanding and accepting. If so, then we can understand why some prayers take a long time to be answered. Normally we do not change overnight; there’s no quick and easy way to overcome our faults and suddenly become wise and holy. All these things are an ongoing process, but as long as we’re trying to make progress, God is pleased to accept us and to work with us. We for our part must be firm in our hope and constant in prayer.

Are there persons in your family—children or grandchildren, parents or siblings—who’ve left the Church or given up the practice of their faith? If so, never cease praying for them; even if it isn’t until the last hour before their death that they turn back to Jesus, your prayers and sacrifices will not have been in vain. Do you ask God again and again for help in overcoming a certain temptation or weakness, but still seem unable to conquer it? If so, don’t despair or give up; if you’re willing to continue the struggle, God promises that one day—with His help—you will be victorious. Do you pray for peace each day, but find yourself getting discouraged because the world seems to be getting worse and worse? Continue praying; even though God’s Kingdom may not be fully established in our lifetimes, our humble prayers can help prepare for its coming.

Prayer can be very powerful and life-changing—but only if we remain faithful to it. We wouldn’t expect an immediate improvement in our physical health after just one day of dieting or exercising; we know these things take time—and that, in spite of this, they’re worth doing. The same thing is even more true of prayer. We may not discover or experience the results for several months, or twenty years, or even a lifetime, but prayer is never wasted. God promises He’ll hear us as long as we believe.