By Fr. Eugene Lobo, SJ –
Twenty Ninth Sunday October 16, 2022
Exodus 17:8-13; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2; Luke 18:1-8
The theme that pervades through the readings of today is Prayer and more specifically, the prayer of Petition. Prayer is understood as the raising of our heart and soul to God, the all gracious and loving Father. We place before him our needs and our aspirations and trust that the Lord will grant our requests. The prayer of Petition is typically a Christian prayer. In this prayer, we place ourselves humbly before our Lord and submit ourselves to him totally. This is the prayer of Jesus and it is the prayer he taught his disciples.
Today’s Readings tell us about prayer and the need to persevere in our prayers. Prayer is our means of communication with God and it is the means to experience our closeness to him. At the same time, Prayer is personal which comes from our heart and is a means to express our feelings and emotions and placed them before God. It is also a way to show faith in the God in which we believe. In the Gospel of today Luke tells us that it important to pray always without becoming weary of prayer. Here we have the story of the unjust judge and a forlorn widow. The judge is typically a powerful and influential person, whereas the widow is fragile, vulnerable, and helpless. Her persistence and constant pleading help her to receive the right judgment.
The First Reading taken from the Book of Exodus, tells us of the importance of prayer. Here we have the prayer of Moses during the time of battle and Israel searching for victory. The Israelites had almost reached the Promised Land. Now they confront an enemy, the Amalek, and the Israelites go and fight at Rephidim. Moses sent Joshua to fight with the Amalek while he, accompanied by Aaron and Hur, stood on the top of the hill with the staff of God in his hand. As long as Moses kept his hands up, Israel was victorious. When he lowered his hands, Amalek was victorious. After a while, Moses was tired of keeping his hands up in the air. So Aaron and Hur put a stone under Moses so he could sit on it. Then they went on each of his sides, each one holding one of Moses’ hands up until the sunset. Finally, Joshua defeated Amalek and his people as Moses prayed to hold his hands high.
In the Second Reading Paul speaks to Timothy about the necessity of perseverance in faith. Paul urges Timothy to continue in what he had learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom he had learned it and how from his childhood he had known the sacred writings that are able to instruct for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Even though Timothy had learned from his Jewish tradition particularly his parents much about the faith, it was from Paul that Timothy had learned about Jesus Christ. Now Paul solemnly charges Timothy to announce the word of God in all circumstances and to proclaim the message of Jesus, by challenging and encouraging people.
In today’s Gospel, we have a parable about a judge and a poor widow who is seeking justice. The point of the parable is to teach an important lesson about the necessity of perseverance in prayer. Luke in the Gospel tells us not to be discouraged if we do not receive an immediate response to the prayer we make. In Palestine, every town or large village had a man appointed by the central authority in Jerusalem whose duty it was to settle all local disputes brought to him. This particular judge is called an unjust person, a totally corrupt individual, who cared for no one, neither God nor man. The widow, on the other hand, a helpless person, representing the anawim, the poor of Yahweh, and was looking for justice regarding her own property. She has only God as her protector and caretaker.
Now Jesus says that if a corrupt, egoistic judge can be eventually moved by the perseverance of a helpless widow, how much more so the all just all-merciful God will be moved to help his chosen friends who approach him in sincerity and filial love. Jesus goes further to explain himself about such a benevolent God who is like a good Father. He uses the example of the love of a parent towards his child. He asks them whether any parent among them would give a child a stone when he asked for bread. Or will he give a scorpion when he asks for an egg? Would he give a snake when a child asks for a fish? Naturally, their answer would be no, they would not do anything bad for their child. If even worldly parents will give their children what they need and not give anything dangerous says Jesus, how much more the loving God in heaven will see to the needs of his children.
The two characters in the parable, an unjust judge and a widow, set up an immediate contrast. While a just judge was not considered to be divine, a judge was expected to be just and caring and manifest the same values and practices associated with the Lord. The widow is portrayed as being in a plight of having to fight in court for what was justly hers but was denied her because of her vulnerability. We are led to expect that the unjust judge will support the widow’s oppressors and rule against her. Thus in this parable of today, Jesus teaches us to persevere in our prayer and not to lose heart if the request is not granted immediately. In his teachings, Paul repeated these instructions of Jesus. He preached to the Thessalonians to pray without ceasing, to pray always and to be at the service of the Lord, and to be ardent in spirit.
What Jesus teaches his disciples is that our perseverance in the prayer of petition develops our trust and confidence in God. It helps us to become humble and to realize how weak we are when left to ourselves. It keeps us close to God, as we learn how dependent we are on his generosity. If we only would realize that God is perhaps never closer to us than when we think he is forgetting us or that he has abandoned us.
The Gospel tells us that if only we persevere in our asking God for anything, he will respond to us. He gives us the message to pray always without growing weary. Secondly, we must have faith that God is with us, even when we do not immediately see the results of our prayers. Thirdly he wants us always to be concerned with justice for the rich and the poor for God cares for us equally. Surely it means asking for those things which will bring us closer to God, those things that help us to know, love, and serve him better. The prayer of asking is at the heart of this passage. When Thomas Aquinas takes up the question of prayer, it is a study of the prayer of asking because, in a sense, it contains all our dependence on God and our faith. It is our sense of being loved that empowers us to turn to God and ask for ourselves and the need of others.
A doctor was sharing his unique experience. A patient came to his office seeking a hip replacement. His former cardiologist believed that the man’s heart was too weak for him to survive a major operation. However, a new cardiologist had stated that while the man faced risks in undergoing surgery, his condition appeared stable. Therefore, he gave his permission to proceed. The patient soon passed all preliminary tests. Still, on surgery day all could sense the tension in the room among the nurses, anaesthesiologists, and the operating doctor. The patient could likely sense this as well. He said, “Doctor, I know this is a busy time, but I would like to ask you for one moment to pray.” In his 20 years of medical practice, the doctor felt that no patient had ever made such a request. All chatter ceased. With his heart monitor beeping in the background, the patient prayed for God to take care of him and all of us in the room who were trying to help him. He thanked God for the opportunity to get better, acknowledging the human limitations of the staff in trying to repair his fragile body. A sense of calm filled the room. The surgery was a success. In all his professional experience the doctor recalls that he had never felt more strongly than on that day the presence of God sent through the patient to him.
This Sunday is set aside as the World Food Day. We have the theme: “Better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life” for the world Food Day this year. Our globalized world is one where our economies, cultures, and populations are becoming increasingly interconnected. Some of us are vulnerable because of who we are or where we live, but the reality is that we are all fragile. When someone is left behind, a chain is broken. This impacts not only the life of that person, but also ours. In the face of global crises, global solutions are needed more than ever. By aiming for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, we can transform agrifood systems and build forward better by implementing sustainable and holistic solutions that consider development in the long term, inclusive economic growth, and greater resilience. Although we have made progress towards building a better world, too many people have been left behind. People who are unable to benefit from human development, innovation or economic growth. In fact, millions of people around the world cannot afford a healthy diet, putting them at high risk of food insecurity and malnutrition. But ending hunger isn’t only about supply. Enough food is produced today to feed everyone on the planet. Worldwide, more than 80 percent of the extreme poor live in rural areas and many rely on agriculture and natural resources for their living.