As a seventh grade math
teacher in New York City, Angela Duckworth discovered that IQ wasn’t the only
thing that separated her highest performers from her lowest performers. Some of her best students didn’t have high IQ
scores, and some of her smartest students weren’t among her top
performers. This discovery ultimately led
Dr. Duckworth to the field of psychology, where she has dedicated much of her
research to the science of achievement. After
years of studying West Point Cadets, National Spelling Bee contestants,
professional football players and sales people, Dr. Duckworth found that “one
characteristic emerged as a significant predictor of success. And it wasn’t general intelligence; it wasn’t
good looks [if that were the case, I’d be unstoppable; It wasn’t] physical
health; and it wasn’t IQ.”[1] Like Moses and the widow in today’s readings,
successful people have grit. It’s no
surprise then, that our readings teach us that successful prayer is gritty
prayer.
So what is grit? Grit is the combination of passion and
perseverance. Gritty people pursue their
heart’s desire and work really hard to make it happen. In music, sports, the arts, careers and yes,
even in the spiritual life, “the highly accomplished [are] paragons of
perseverance.”[2]
They have grit. Let’s take Moses, for example. When Amalek waged war against Israel, there
was no reason to believe that the Israelites could defeat such a strong
army. But Moses had the conviction of
faith that the Israelites would win, so he raised the staff of God over his
soldiers in prayer. Even as he grew weary,
Moses didn’t give up. His goal was
victory through prayer. With the help of
Aaron and Hur, with passion and perseverance, Moses held the staff of God high
until sunset, and Amalek’s army was defeated.
Moses brought grit to prayer, and the Israelites were successful.
How about the widow in today’s
Gospel? Her case lay before a judge who
neither feared God nor respected any human being. She had no reason to believe that she would
ever receive a just judgment. But she
didn’t give up. She wanted justice, so
she persistently bothered the judge until he rendered a just decision. The widow brought grit to her pleadings, and
she was successful.
So how can gritty prayer
help us? Let’s start off by talking
about how prayer helps us. Prayer is the
lifting of the mind and heart to God.
It’s an act of spiritual communion by which we unite ourselves, our
concerns and needs with God and with each other.[3] Through prayer we step into the transcendent,
spiritual world to fill ourselves with God’s eternal love so we can share it
with others. While our prayers can’t
change the mind of God, because God can’t change, we don’t need to change God’s
mind. God’s mind is perfect. In it we find perfect truth, justice and
love. We certainly don’t need to change
that; we need to unite ourselves with it so that we can have perfect truth,
justice and love here on earth just as it is in heaven. We do that through prayer, and it’s always
effective because every act of prayer brings God’s truth, justice and love into
the world. Here’s where grit comes into
the picture.
I hope we can all agree
that truth, justice and love aren’t just worthy goals; they’re the ultimate goals human existence. If that’s the case, we should bring every
ounce of our passion and persistence to achieving them here and now. And if the way to bring truth, justice and
love into the world is by uniting with God through prayer, then we need passionate,
persistent prayer to achieve that goal.
When Jesus tells us “to pray always without becoming weary” (Luke 18:
1), he’s calling us to gritty prayer.
“Always praying means the channel between God and the human person
remains open.”[4] Always praying, as Saint Paul reminds
Timothy, means being “persistent whether it is convenient or
inconvenient.” (2 Tim. 4: 2) Through gritty prayer, we receive the very
grace that conquers lies, injustice and hatred from its most infinite and
perfect source – the God of truth, justice and love.
Looking at our political
situation and at the injustice and violence that plague our world, there’s no
reason to believe that we can change things on our own. But “salvation always involves the interplay
of divine grace and human cooperation.”[5] That interplay takes place in prayer –
passionate, persistent, gritty prayer.
Through passionate, persistent, gritty prayer, we summon the courage to
shine God’s truth on the lies that tempt contemporary thought. Through passionate, persistent, gritty
prayer, we find the strength to right every wrong until God’s justice shall reign
on the earth. Through passionate,
persistent, gritty prayer, we’re filled with God’s love, the only love that can
heal the wounds of division that separate us from God and our fellow man.
Readings: Exodus 17: 8-13; Psalm 121; 2 Timothy 3: 14 – 4: 2; Luke 18: 1-8
[1]
Angela Lee Duckworth, Grit: The Power of
Passion and Perseverance, TED, (April 2013), https://www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_grit_the_power_of_passion_and_perseverance?language=en#t-161404.
[2]
Angela Duckworth, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
(New York, Scribner, 2016) at 8.
[3]
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2559-2565.
[4]
John Shea, Spiritual Wisdom of the
Gospels for Christian Preachers and Teachers:
The Relentless Widow, Luke, Year C (Collegeville, Liturgical Press,
2006) at 292.
[5]
John F. Craghan, “Exodus,” The
Collegeville Bible Commentary, Old Testament, Dianne Bergant, ed.
(Collegeville, Liturgical Press, 1992) at 98.
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