Pope says prayer must be courageous and importunate to touch God

01 July, 2013 - Pope Francis on Monday urged Christians to pray to the Lord with courage and tenacity like Abraham, as Jesus Himself taught us. Delivering a homily at the morning Mass he celebrated in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta residence in the Vatican, the Pope reflected on the way Abraham vigorously negotiated with God, against the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, as if bargaining with a Phoenician merchant. “And he does it with insistence,” the Pope said, adding prayer must be courageous. The Pope went on to say that Jesus Himself teaches us to pray with courage and insistence when speaks about the parable of the unjust judge and the importunate widow or the man who knocks at the door of his friend at night. In fact, Jesus, expresses admiration for the Syro-Phoenician woman who went on arguing with Him to heal her daughter. Praying with persistence, the Pope admitted, is tiring, but it is the attitude of prayer. He recalled St. Teresa saying prayer is a sort of negotiation with the Lord, which is possible in an atmosphere of familiarity with Him. “It is tiring, it’s true,” the Pope repeated, but “this is prayer, this is receiving a grace from God.”