56. On Prayer.
Martha was being of service, but she did not realize that it was not necessary for Mary to be of service in the same way. Jesus quickly reflected back to her the personal judgment she had made against Mary and indicated that learning the spiritual teachings is more important than attending to all the little concerns of the material world.
The disciples of Jesus asked him for advice about praying. Again he told them to simply pray to God as their Father whose consciousness is sacred, asking for the manifestation of God, the needs of each day, and the release of karma as they release others from any debt, and finally the guidance to keep them out of negativity.
Then he told them a parable of common experience to show the value of persistent prayer. Any person, even when the situation is inconvenient, will respond eventually if the person asking does not give up. Therefore in prayer if we persevere until we get what we need, then we will be successful; for we must overcome the blocks in our own consciousness to get to God who is always our loving Father.