05-22-2026, 08:17 AM
Mgr. Louis de Ségur: Short Answers to Common Objections Against Religion - 1908
THIRTY-FOURTH OBJECTION. I PRAY, AND DO NOT OBTAIN WHAT I ASK FOR. I ONLY LOSE MY TIME.
Answer. Did St. Monica, the mother of St. Augustine, lose her time, when, during sixteen years of prayers and tears, she sought of God what she at last obtained — the conversion of her son?
Did St. Francis de Sales lose his time when he labored during twenty-two years to attain meekness of heart?
Perseverance is one of the chief qualities of prayer.
Let us never weary of praying! God often seems to be deaf that we may cry to Him more loudly and more frequently. He seems to hide from us in order that we may feel His absence more sensibly, and appreciate better the sweetness of His presence.
Let us recall the promise of our Divine Master. "Seek, and you shall find." We shall find, we are assured that we shall find. But we are not assured that we shall find immediately. St. Monica, that woman full of faith and perseverance, found her desire only after the lapse of sixteen years, and it is her unshaken constancy which sanctified her. The Canaanite woman in the Gospel obtained her child's life after asking three times, and this delay, so painful to the heart of a mother, was the trial and the triumph of her faith . . .
Let us, then, never be weary. In the very hour, perhaps, when our courage forsook us, God was at hand to help us!
The very moment in which we lost courage was, perhaps, when God was just about to come to our aid.
THIRTY-FOURTH OBJECTION. I PRAY, AND DO NOT OBTAIN WHAT I ASK FOR. I ONLY LOSE MY TIME.
Answer. Did St. Monica, the mother of St. Augustine, lose her time, when, during sixteen years of prayers and tears, she sought of God what she at last obtained — the conversion of her son?
Did St. Francis de Sales lose his time when he labored during twenty-two years to attain meekness of heart?
Perseverance is one of the chief qualities of prayer.
Let us never weary of praying! God often seems to be deaf that we may cry to Him more loudly and more frequently. He seems to hide from us in order that we may feel His absence more sensibly, and appreciate better the sweetness of His presence.
Let us recall the promise of our Divine Master. "Seek, and you shall find." We shall find, we are assured that we shall find. But we are not assured that we shall find immediately. St. Monica, that woman full of faith and perseverance, found her desire only after the lapse of sixteen years, and it is her unshaken constancy which sanctified her. The Canaanite woman in the Gospel obtained her child's life after asking three times, and this delay, so painful to the heart of a mother, was the trial and the triumph of her faith . . .
Let us, then, never be weary. In the very hour, perhaps, when our courage forsook us, God was at hand to help us!
The very moment in which we lost courage was, perhaps, when God was just about to come to our aid.
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre