Forgiving Persistence

In my devotions this morning I came across the following reading from a friend of mine by the name of Daniel Berrigan (from a book entitled Sorrow Built a Bridge):

Of this I am certain: of our calling to holiness, our vocation to persist, in season and out in the work of healing others, even as we seek healing for ourselves…
So we take heart. We commend the woman who quite simply, with all her heart, on behalf of someone she loved, refused to give up [the Syrophoenician woman of Mark 7.24-30]. We might think of her act as ‘forgiving persistence’ toward Christ. We might also wish to ponder a kind of ‘persistent forgiveness’ toward the church.
The woman refuses and persists. And so prevails.
And so must we. And so shall we.
We must forgive, deepen our love, persist in our conviction that even the church can be redeemed from sin.
In so fulfilling our vocation, we ourselves are healed.

These words come to me at a good time today. I think of people who I've sat with, walked with, talked with, prayed with, over the last few days. I know and hear the pain in their lives (and in my own) and yet I find myself so encouraged by the persistence that comes to seek healing from a friend, from a pastor, even from a stranger. That to me is hope...that reaching out, even when it seems like the storms of life are raging.
Yesterday, my car got towed. I parked in the wrong place downtown (at the wrong time) and so, feeling sick, I had to walk down to the County City building and pay my fine and find out where the car was to pick it up. I was feeling lousy and I walked in the door on the west side of the building and realized that I couldn't go in that way. The police officer by the door told me where I needed to go. And then, unexpectedly, he asked me where I was going. I told him, and he gave me a smile (at the end of a long day, I'm sure it wasn't the easiest thing to summon up) and told me where to go -- and with his words he commisserated with me (it's hard to say how, it's just that in how he spoke I knew I wasn't alone). This small act of kindness in a weary and sick day was a reminder to me of the small ways, in forgiving persistence, that we bless each other every day, and yet often are unaware.