Often when we hear the success stories of the athletes who achieve great results, we realize that their results mostly depend on the consistency of their training and perseverance in addition to their great talent. For instance, the great Brazilian footballer, Ronaldinho has been training for up to 20 hours a week since he was a 16-year-old boy.

Today, Jesus reminds us that we too need to persevere in our prayer life and in doing God's work. He uses the widow as an example to us. The widow though helpless (and maybe even hopeless) still comes many times to the judge demanding fair judgement. Others might be tempted to give up half-way but not she! Her perseverance finally pays off.

Perhaps, we need to look into our lives and question ourselves whether we also have full trust in the Lord despite our struggles and challenges.

Faith is the gift from God, but we need to nurture it through our prayer life and good works.

Let us also strive in our faith journey to be like well-prepared athletes - perhaps "marathon runners" with great stamina for the long haul, rather than "sprinters" who end the journey fast.