What is God to do when opposing prayers are rising up to him like during an athletic contest between the teams of two (Catholic) schools or during a battle between the armies of two Christian nations? Or during any battle between any of God's children? How is God to choose? So many people are asking, demanding really, and expecting God to deliver them not from evil but deliver them victory since certainly God must be on their side since they must be the righteous ones upon whom the healing rays of the sun of justice will shine, right? What is God to do when we think we are asking for a fish or an egg and instead unwittingly we are asking for a snake or a scorpion? What is God to do when we try to make God choose sides?

If God does not seem to answer our prayers, don't we wonder if God is listening? Don't we, too, at times wonder if it is vain to serve God, and ask what do we profit by keeping his command?

God loves us. God chooses all of us. As Saint Bruno's Carthusians profess: "The Cross is steady while the world is turning." As disciples of Jesus we do not seek to profit but rather seek to know God, love God and serve God at the foot of the cross. There, at Calvary, we learn to pray. There, at Calvary, we learn to love. We are called to persist in prayer, to stay at the foot of the cross, because that is where we discover victory and peace and stability and God and our prayers are truly answered.