Jesus was a person of prayer. In this He set an example for His followers to emulate. When they asked Him to teach them to pray as John taught his disciples, Jesus responded with the Lord's Prayer (cf. Lk. 11:1-4). This prayer is further set in the context of the need to pray persistently (cf. 11:5-13). In our gospel, Luke reminds his disciples, by way of a parable not without humorous overtones, of the need to pray often. The Jewish judical system was geared towards a defence of the defenceless, at least in theory. Widows symbolically represented all those outside the pale of justice since they had no man to claim their rights. Judges, rulers and kings were particularly charged with the widow's and the orphan's defence. Luke's Jesus compares God to an unjust judge who would have preferred to remain unmoved by the widow's pleas, but only relents because she irritates him.

Jesus Himself prays continuously and so He teaches the disciples to likewise pray continuously lest they lose heart as the way becomes long and ardous.

Persistence in prayer is a way of developing integrity in our lives. A well-known spiritual principle seems to aptly apply here: work as if everything depends on you and pray as if everything depends on God.