"Be persevering in prayer."

  St. Paul tells us today that we must do more than pray. We must be persevering in prayer. That means that we must keep on praying, over and over again.

            Christopher Wren was a famous English architect. He was called upon to rebuild St. Paul's Cathedral in London. To do that he had to knock down the old building. Instead of taking it down stone by stone, he decided to knock in a whole wall at once and save time. He prepared a huge battering-ram and had the workmen pound the wall with it. They pounded the wall with the battering-ram for an hour and nothing happened. They complained to Christopher Wren that they were wasting time. He said to them, "We are not wasting time, we're really saving time. We have to keep pounding all day."  In spite of their grumbling the men kept at the job but nothing seemed to be happening. Then, finally the entire wall fell away from them and they had done a month's work in a day.

            By their continual pounding the men were able to knock down a wall. When St, Paul tells us to be persevering in prayer, he means that we must keep pounding on the gates of heaven with the battering-ram of prayer, again and again.

            Daniel O'Connell, the great patriot of Ireland, spent years and years fighting for the cause of Catholic freedom. All during that time he kept on praying and praying for the success of his cause.  One day his friends saw him walking up and down in the Parliament yard.  They said to him, "It is a wonder that you are not inside fighting for the Cause. "He took his hand out of his coat pocket and showed them his rosary and said to them: "I am doing more for Ireland now than you think."  When the day of Catholic Emancipation came, O'Connell knew that his persevering prayers had not been in vain.

            If you have been praying for something for a long time do not let yourselves get discouraged. A drowning man cries for help more than once. So must you.

            The opposite of persevering prayer is the prayer of a man who was caught in a storm at sea. He prayed and said, "O Lord, I haven't bothered You for fifteen years and if You save me from this storm I won't bother You for another fifteen years." That is not persevering prayer. Our Lord wants us to "bother" Him with our prayers. He wants us to ask Him for things. Sometimes, just to see if we really want what we are asking for, He holds back the answer. At times like that we ought to think of St. Paul's words, "Be persevering in prayer."
                                                                  - Heirs of the Kingdom, Imprimatur 1949 -

                                                                     Old Man Reilly
                                                                     Good Example

  What is the worst disease known to mankind? It is a disease known as leprosy. Who knows the name of the place where lepers are taken care of? Some of the older children may know it. Molokai. Here is a story you may like. During the Civil War there was a lieutenant in the Union army named Joseph Dutton. He was known as the handsomest, the bravest, and the best officer in the army. Lieutenant Dutton had an orderly, and old man whom the soldiers had nicknamed Old Man Reilly. Old Man Reilly was to have a great effect on the life of Lieutenant Dutton. One day Dutton asked old man Reilly a question. The answer he got to it changed his whole life. The lieutenant asked his orderly, "You have been with me for some years. In that time none of my things have ever been stolen. What makes you so honest?" Old Man Reilly replied, "I am a Catholic and the teachings of the Catholic Church is that if you steal anything, you have to give it back. So what's the use of stealing?" Dutton was very much impressed with this and had many a chat with Old Man Reilly after that. The result of it all was that years later he became a Catholic. But the story does not end there. Many years later the newspaper headlines read as follows; "The death of Father Damien of Molokai leaves open a place among the lepers which will be filled by Brother Joseph Dutton, formerly of the United States Army."  That shows how far good example of Old Man Reilly, Joseph Dutton went of to Molokai to care for the lepers. The good example of an old man reached from the army to Molokai. You can never tell how far your example will go. Each little act you do becomes very important because it may set the examples to others. Your duty to set good example crops up many times during the day. It may be just a case of showing you brothers and sisters how to obey your parents, a case of showing that you are not too busy to step aside and visit the Blessed Sacrament on the way home from school. The very fact that you are going to church on Sunday morning means that you are setting an example to those who see you. Everything you do is setting an example, good or bad. That is why you have to be so careful. Perhaps some little act of yours may be the cause of a great act in someone else, just as the honest of Old Man Reilly was the cause of Lieutenant Dutton's heroism.  When Theodore Roosevelt was making a tour around the world, he stopped in front of the island of Molokai and fired a salvo of guns to honor Brother Joseph Dutton. Hero that Brother Dutton was to the brave the perils of leprosy, he would not hesitate to give credit to Old Man Reilly for his good example. While people praise Brother Dutton, don't you think it is a shame that so few words of praise are found for the man who inspired him? That is shy we chose to speak this morning about a forgotten person, and old man honest as the day, as good as gold, who inspired Brother Dutton's deeds of greatness- Old Man Reilly.  
                                                                            - Heavenwords, Imprimatur 1947 -