It's amazing what people will pray for! As a child, I'd pray to pass a test (especially when I hadn't studied well enough.) Some athletes pray to win a game. In war, some pray that their enemies will die.

But ordinary people pray to be able to bear pain - the pain of loss, of loneliness, physical pain, psychological pain. They pray that someone will be cured or that their children will be safe. We pray to receive what we think we need and to be protected from those things we fear. And we all hope and pray that our prayers will be heard. We do know they are heard and are answered. What children have been taught is that God always answers prayer but sometimes the answer is, "No."

Maybe the pain continues, the loved one dies, the path our children choose is not what we wanted, the football game is lost. Still, we pray. We recall the man in the gospel who knocked and knocked and knocked on his neighbor's door at night because he needed food. Even when the neighbor insisted over and over that he go away, he persevered because his children were hungry, because he needed help. We, too, persevere in prayer until we hear the answer. And we pray, not just for what we want or for what we think we need. We pray too that when the answer to our prayer comes, we will listen to it with hearts and minds open. Sometimes we understand the answer. Sometimes we don't. Sometimes it is harder to find the lesson, the gift, the hidden jewel in the answer. But, like a hidden jewel, it is worth the effort.

Loving God: Help me to pray and especially to hear the answer to my prayer today. Give me a peaceful heart to hear it. Give me insight to understand it. Give me wisdom to value the lesson that is there.

Jean Marie Hiesberger