29th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C - 20/10/2019 - Gospel:
Persistence in prayer
In the beginning of the parable Jesus told his apostles about the need to pray continually. He then talked about the behaviour of the powerful unjust judge, who turned a deaf ear to the persistent plea for justice from the poor widow. Finally, the parable ended with Jesus' assurances that those who don't lose heart in prayer will receive God's justice in due time.
The unjust judge was the one, 'who had neither fear of God nor respect for man' v.2. However the poor widow, the unjust judge's victim, received help from no one. Help come only from her own strength and efforts. Her persistence wore out the unjust judge who finally heeded her voice and gave her the justice she was asking for. The unjust judge was lord of himself. He loved no one except himself. Even when he gave the poor widow what she asked for, it was not out of his love for her, nor respect for justice, but it was for his own benefit. He gave her justice to stop her coming to trouble him. When human justice is done purely by human efforts, bias and errors in judgments can be a common thing. Wars, poverty and man-made catastrophes caused by poor judgments on the part of world leaders, have made life miserable for many. To reduce human suffering we need guidance from above, and the rule of thumb is to love God, and to love our neighbours. Any judgement that is based on the foundation of loving God, and loving our neighbour is fair and just because such judgements are not solely guided by human knowledge, but by God's. Mistakes can rarely happen.
Spiritual dryness does happen in prayer, but persistence in prayer will combat that problem. God talks to us in any circumstances of our lives, and that includes times of spiritual dryness. We need to pray and pray always, because without prayers we will soon turn inward to self love. We would become an anonymous unjust judge, who has no fear of hurting people. Without a prayerful life, we don't even know that we walk in darkness, and follow our own wisdom, and serve only our own interests and power. Without constant prayer our love for God and for others will be jeopardised. Our lives will be swallowed up by responsibility, and the ordinariness of daily business. Constant prayer help us to open our eyes to see, that our loving God mysteriously cares for us, and for the world, much more than we do. Our world has so many problems, but do not lose hope. Turn to prayer because the power of prayer is stronger than any human's mistake. Persistence in prayer helps us to understand that God always listens to our prayers. Expecting to receive exactly what we ask for may be disappointing, because God may give us something else rather than what we ask for. We need to remember that God's justice is far better than we can understand, and whatever God grants is best for us. People of faith love to communicate with God, and prayer is a form of strengthening our relationship with our loving God.
The unjust judge was the one, 'who had neither fear of God nor respect for man' v.2. However the poor widow, the unjust judge's victim, received help from no one. Help come only from her own strength and efforts. Her persistence wore out the unjust judge who finally heeded her voice and gave her the justice she was asking for. The unjust judge was lord of himself. He loved no one except himself. Even when he gave the poor widow what she asked for, it was not out of his love for her, nor respect for justice, but it was for his own benefit. He gave her justice to stop her coming to trouble him. When human justice is done purely by human efforts, bias and errors in judgments can be a common thing. Wars, poverty and man-made catastrophes caused by poor judgments on the part of world leaders, have made life miserable for many. To reduce human suffering we need guidance from above, and the rule of thumb is to love God, and to love our neighbours. Any judgement that is based on the foundation of loving God, and loving our neighbour is fair and just because such judgements are not solely guided by human knowledge, but by God's. Mistakes can rarely happen.
Spiritual dryness does happen in prayer, but persistence in prayer will combat that problem. God talks to us in any circumstances of our lives, and that includes times of spiritual dryness. We need to pray and pray always, because without prayers we will soon turn inward to self love. We would become an anonymous unjust judge, who has no fear of hurting people. Without a prayerful life, we don't even know that we walk in darkness, and follow our own wisdom, and serve only our own interests and power. Without constant prayer our love for God and for others will be jeopardised. Our lives will be swallowed up by responsibility, and the ordinariness of daily business. Constant prayer help us to open our eyes to see, that our loving God mysteriously cares for us, and for the world, much more than we do. Our world has so many problems, but do not lose hope. Turn to prayer because the power of prayer is stronger than any human's mistake. Persistence in prayer helps us to understand that God always listens to our prayers. Expecting to receive exactly what we ask for may be disappointing, because God may give us something else rather than what we ask for. We need to remember that God's justice is far better than we can understand, and whatever God grants is best for us. People of faith love to communicate with God, and prayer is a form of strengthening our relationship with our loving God.
Written by Fr Vũđình Tường
St Francis Xavier Catholic Parish
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane Australia
St Francis Xavier Catholic Parish
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane Australia
