OCTOBER 8, 2026 FATHER VIJAI AMIRTHARAJ
An 80-year-old man was sitting on the sofa in his house along with his 45-year-old highly-educated son. Suddenly, a crow came and sat on the window. The father asked his son, “What is this?” The son replied, “It is a crow.”
And after a few minutes, the father asked his son a second time, “What is this?” The son said, “Dad, I just told you. It’s a crow.” After a little while, the old father, again, asked his son a third time, “What is this?” At this time, the son was irritated and he said to his father with a rebuff, “It is a crow. A crow. A crow!”
A little after, the father, again, asked the son the fourth time, “What is this?” This time, the son shouted at his father, “Why do you keep asking me the same question again and again, although I have told you so many times ‘It’s a crow.’?”
A little later, the father went to his room and came back with an old, tattered diary, which he had maintained from the birth of his son. And opening a page, he asked his son to read a page. And when the son read it, the following words were written.
“Today, my little son, aged three, was sitting with me on the sofa when a crow came and sat on the window. My son asked me 23 times what it was and I replied to him 23 times that it was a crow. I hugged him lovingly each time he asked me the same question 23 times again and again. I did not at all feel irritated. I rather felt affection for my innocent child.”
After a couple of minutes of silence, the son got up, and with tears in his eyes hugged his father.
Now, sisters and brothers, our readings today speak of a kind, compassionate, and patient love of God, the Father, for each one of us. God is love, as we read in the scriptures, and God cannot stop loving us, because that is God’s nature, and the nature of God’s relationship with us.
However, our story is different. We easily become impatient like the son in the story. We waver in our love for God like the Galatians in today’s first reading, and we don’t want to be bothered like the friend in today’s gospel parable.
The point that Jesus makes through the parable of a friend is this. “If a grumpy neighbour will listen to an inconvenient request, how much more will a loving God pay heed to the needs of his children?” And continuing on the same point, Jesus says that even if a very ordinary father would not think of treating his children callously, how much more for God who is a Father of all?
Therefore, we must ask, and seek, and knock with confidence in our loving God, and to do it always with persistence.
Sisters and brothers, the reality is that sometimes we pray and nothing seems to happen. We ask, but the door seems closed. We knock, but there is only silence. We may wonder in those moments, “Does God hear me? Does God care for me? Why hasn’t my prayer been answered?” Jesus says even in those moments, keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking.
In a world where we are equipped with so many high-tech resources for instant communication, in a world where we change brands so quickly, and in a world where we seek instant gratification, patience in prayer does not come easy. Persistence in prayer does not come easy. Yet, as beloved children of God, who loves us deeply, we are called to develop these habits.
And we must also understand here that the purpose of prayer is not to inform God of so much that what we want, because God is all knowing. God knows our needs. Rather, prayer changes us, changes our attitude. Persistent prayer deepens our trust. It purifies our desires, and it teaches us to place our lives in the hands of God.
One of the seven petitions of the beautiful prayer Our Father is, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” This is a truly beautiful petition that requires not only an ongoing persistence, but also a deeper trust in God and in God’s ways for us.
So, today, let us know that we are loved and cared by our beloved Father, and let us approach Him always with confidence and with persistence.
