Faith Matters

My heart goes out to you. It really does. I see how much stress all of you students are under. I walk across campus and can see it on your faces. I stroll through Slavin and see groups of you furiously flipping through books and notes, trying to finish papers, prepare for exams, and complete group projects. The work that these days require can completely consume us.

By this time of the semester, all of us – students, faculty, and staff – are starting to run out of gas. Trying to rally myself for the final push, I've been calling to mind a favorite quotation spoken by President Calvin Coolidge: "Press on! Nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts." Forgetting for a moment that "educated derelicts" describes every class reunion that I've ever attended, I want to reflect for a moment on perseverance and prayer.

Perseverance is a special virtue that helps us to endure life's challenges. It's not an end in itself, but helps us to hang in there and accomplish those things that are required of us. In the context of the end of the semester, the virtue of perseverance allows us to hang in there with our studies. It keeps us from getting discouraged and giving up. To that end, we do whatever we can to psych ourselves up – grab a Monster Energy Drink, take a brisk lap around the library, listen to motivational music (I recommend anything from the Rocky IV soundtrack) – and get down to business.

One of the temptations that accompany our best efforts to persevere is to think that we've got to do it by ourselves. Like Coolidge says, "Press on!" No one can persevere for you; each person has to press on for himself. Or so it would seem. The truth is that in order to persevere, we're in some sense reliant upon God. The goal of fulfilling our individual dreams and living lives of greatness is simply beyond our unaided efforts. So too is the more proximate goal: the successful completion of the semester. We need God's grace.

So how do we go about getting it? The answer isn't particularly difficult or theologically sophisticated: We ask for it. We ask God to help us hang in there during these stressful days. Make time at the beginning of your study sessions to say a quick prayer. Ask for divine light to help scatter the darkness of your mind. Beg God to guide the beginning of your work, direct its progress, and bring it to completion. When you finish, say a quick prayer of thanks for the work that you've been able to accomplish.

It's striking that one of the best ways to persevere in our work is to persevere first in prayer. Isn't this exactly what Jesus is talking about in the Sermon on the Mount? "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." This doesn't mean asking once, seeking for a minute and then quitting, or giving a timid single knock upon the door. Quite the contrary, Jesus is saying to keep it up! St. Paul bears witness to this when he writes: "Pray without ceasing."

So here's the bottom line: You and I cannot persevere – whether in the work of the semester or the work of living noble lives – without God. But it's every bit as true that God probably won't work miracles in our souls without our own constant efforts. We find ourselves cooperators with God, coworkers in last days of the semester. You can be sure that he's there waiting for our prayers and waiting with his grace. He's waiting to help us to press on.