How come I end up doing all the work around here?
Nobody seems to care that I put in so much time on this!
Try to be unselfish and people walk all over you!
Why bother to be good?  It’s the bad people that are having all the fun!
These are whines that have been aged to perfection.

If this feast of Our Lady of the Rosary is about anything, it is about trusting persistence in prayer, not whining because I have not yet gotten what I want.  There is certainly room for a compassionate lament that the love of Jesus and Mary for this human race so often goes unrequited, but that is very different from whining.  Jesus says, “Keep asking…keep seeking…keep knocking.”  It is not just about persistence, but persistence with a good friend who can be counted on.  God is a better parent to us than we are to our own charges.

When we find ourselves whining, it may be helpful to ask what is so awful about living in service of our God and one another.  What is so distasteful about acting justly, loving tenderly, and walking humbly with our God?  What has happened to my value system that the material pleasures of those who seem far from God are more attractive than walking with Jesus at my side?

Through the prophet Malachi, God speaks similar words.  “To those of you who trust I say: ‘You are mine’.  I will make the sun of justice shine on you with its healing rays.”  These are words of love and consolation for those who pray (and even lament) with persistence.