"The Lord hears the cry of the poor."

When I am working at the computer and my cat, Inky, wants me to get something for him, he knows how to get my attention. He will first come and sit at my feet, staring up at me. If I don't respond right away, he jumps onto the back of the chair and sits there behind my shoulders. He then stretches his neck around so I can see his face. He goes on to start rubbing against me, then nudging me. I start out saying, "Give me a minute Ink, I'm in the middle of something". He then jumps onto the desk in front of me, blocking the screen. I start getting annoyed and say, "Boy, you are such a pest, can't you give me a minute?". I put him down but he jumps back up onto the back of the chair and the cycle starts all over again. He is relentless. I get so annoyed that I end up getting up to give him what he wants just to get him off my back (literally). 

It reminds me of the parable Jesus told in Luke 18:1-8 about the persistent widow and the unjust judge. A widow keeps coming to a judge who cares about neither God nor man. She asks him repeatedly to give her justice against her adversary. At first he refuses, but eventually gives her what she wants because she keeps bothering him. Jesus goes on to say, "And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly." 

Two posts ago, I encouraged people to ban together like a bundle of sticks, get involved in the community, and write letters  to their representatives. I talked about how there was power in numbers and power in persistence. I said that if everyone with a concern did such a thing, we would raise our voices to the level at which our leaders would have to hear us. It occurred to me a few days later that there was something important that I forgot about when I was writing that. All I was thinking about at the time was making an impact on our human leaders. What about the greatest leader of all? This past Sunday my church celebrated the Solemnity of Christ the King, reminding us that he is Lord over all creation, of the church, and of the entire universe...the King of kings. What a wonderful time to get this reminder! How could I have forgotten about the most powerful tool that we have at our disposal? How could I have forgotten about prayer?  Jesus wants us to ask him for the things that we need and to be persistent about it. Unlike the judge, he cares deeply about each one of us and won't be responding just to get us off his back.