Pray Always and Do Not Lose Heart — Mission Sustained by Prayer

Today, the Church throughout the world celebrates World Mission Sunday — a day dedicated to renewing our awareness that the Church is missionary by her very nature. Every baptized person shares in the mission of Christ to bring salvation to all.

At the same time, our parish joyfully celebrates the Jubilee of Religious Life — an opportunity to acknowledge, honor, and thank God for the mission and ministry of our Religious Sisters who, by their prayer, service, and witness, embody the heart of the Church’s mission.

Their lives remind us that mission begins with a heart united to Christ in prayer and overflows in acts of love, compassion, and service. Today, we unite these two celebrations — Mission Sunday and the Jubilee of Religious Life — as one great thanksgiving for the gift of vocation and missionary discipleship.

Our Religious Sisters embody this truth. Many of them stand like Moses — their hands lifted in intercession for the Church and for the world. Others, like Joshua, labor on the front lines — teaching, nursing, guiding, and serving God’s people. Together, they remind us that mission is sustained by both prayer and action, contemplation and service.

In the Gospel, Jesus tells the parable of the persistent widow who never gives up until justice is granted. Her perseverance moves even a corrupt judge. Jesus uses this image to teach us that we must always pray and never lose heart.

Missionary life — like the widow’s persistence — demands unwavering faith and unceasing prayer. The widow represents the praying Church that refuses to give up on the world, that keeps interceding for humanity even when faith seems to fade. Our Religious Sisters, through their constancy in prayer, remind us of this Gospel truth: that the mission of Christ advances not by worldly success, but by steadfast faith and hope in God’s promises.

The Jubilee of Religious Life invites us to give thanks for those who have lived this missionary spirit most radically — our Sisters who have “left all things” to follow Christ and serve His people.

Let us celebrate them, support them, pray for them and learn from their example. Their fidelity and joy remind us that every vocation — priestly, religious, or lay — finds its meaning in the great mission of love entrusted to the Church.