Be faithful, steadfast, and patient is the message behind all of the day’s readings.

Some of the great cathedrals of the world took centuries to build. The architects who drew up the plans, the artists who contributed their craft, the patrons who put up the money, and the workers who quarried the stone and laid the foundation knew they would never worship in the building they were helping to construct.

Jesus told them a story showing that it was necessary for them to pray consistently and never quit. He said, “There was once a judge in some city who never gave God a thought and cared nothing for people. A widow in that city kept after him: ‘My rights are being violated. Protect me!’

I have a picture clipped long ago from the newspaper, of Chicago Bulls player Scottie Pippen holding up Michael Jordan as they walk to the bench for a time-out. It was a game in which Jordan, suffering from stomach flu, could barely stand during the time-outs.

When she was little, my daughter’s favorite movie was The Sound of Music. She’d announce 20 times a day, “I want Maria. I want Maria,” referring to the movie’s main character, who is a troublesome nun-in-the-making sent from her abbey to be a governess.

When I first started coaching freshman high-school soccer, I had a real problem beyond no coaching experience at all. Practice started on the first day of school. And by the following weekend we were scheduled to play our first game.

God is our help. We turn to God for help in overcoming our sins.

Going often to prayer is an act of faith. . . . Trying to be attentive in your prayers is an act of faith. . . . These are acts of faith, because they are acts that you would accomplish if you saw and understood that God is present, though your eyes and ears neither see nor hear him.