Why We Persevere

This week we received word that a prodigal we have been praying for returned home to the Catholic Church! This is not the first time this kind of good news has circulated in our group, and it won’t be the last. But while we rejoice in this news, and rejoice we should, our list of prodigal initials remains long.

It can seem daunting to continue to pray for our prodigals, especially when they don’t seem like they will return home to the Church anytime soon. Some of the prodigals on our list have been away for many years. Discouragement can start to set in. We can wonder if our prayers are working. We can wonder why that prodigal returned but our prodigal has not.

God sees our efforts. He sees our desire to gather as a group to pray for each of these souls, He sees how much we love our prodigals, He sees that it’s sometimes hard to arrange our schedule to be at group prayer, He sees the heaviness of the cross we carry, and He also sees our perseverance. God knows exactly what it looks like and feels like for each of us who is praying for a prodigal or many prodigals, and He accompanies us on that journey.

Each time we gather to pray it is an act of trust and perseverance. When we are discouraged, we can remember that God wastes nothing. That is why we persevere. We know God wants to bring all of the prodigals home and He wants to use our prayers to help make it happen.