DAILY HOMILIES #Achaia

Today, Jesus reveals the third strategy for dealing with the world’s hatred: Prayer. We often sing: “Prayer is the key. Prayer is the Key. Prayer is the master key. Jesus started with prayer and ended with prayer. Prayer is the master key.” Prayer is the key to unlocking happiness amid the troubles that must come our way if we obey God’s commandments in a world that prefers darkness to light.

As long as we let our light shine as God’s children, we cannot escape moments of persecution. In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus likens these persecutions to the pains a woman feels when she is about to give birth. When a woman is in travail, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she is delivered of the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a child is born into the world.