🙏 SUNDAY INSIGHTS - THE 29TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 🙏

First Reading - Exodus 17:8-13

Second Reading - 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2

Gospel - Luke 18:1-8

Many famous People Who Were Slow Starters: Winston Churchill seemed so dull as a youth that his father thought he might be incapable of earning a living in England. Charles Darwin did so poorly in school that his father once told him, “You will be a disgrace to yourself and all your family.” G.K. Chesterton, the English writer, could not read until he was eight. One of his teachers told him, “If we could open your head we should not find any brain but only a lump of white fat.” Thomas Edison‘s first teacher described him as “addled,” and his father almost convinced him he was a “dunce.” Albert Einstein’s parents feared their child was dull, and he performed so badly in all high school courses except mathematics that a teacher asked him to drop out. Prayerful perseverance was the secret of their success.Today’s readings are mainly about prayer — perseverance in prayer, constancy in prayer and trust in God as we pray. 

In the first reading, we see how Moses, Aaron, and Hur learned the “necessity of praying always and not losing heart,” when Joshua was fighting the battle against the Amalekites. At that time, Israel’s resources were inadequate, and their morale was at a low ebb. The Amalekites were a group of people who stood between Israel and the land God had promised her. They had waged war on Israel, and Israel had no choice but to fight back. Staff in hand, Moses stood on top of the mountain overlooking the battleground. He was praying fervently for Israel with raised, outstretched arms. As he grew weary, his two aides, Aaron and Hur, seated him on a rock and propped up his arms. “As long as Moses kept his hands raised up, Israel had the better of the fight, but when he let his hands rest, Amalek had the better of the fight.” When we join the army with Jesus, who prayed for us with outstretched arms on the cross, we will surely win the battle with our own Amalekites: the temptations and evil tendencies in our lives.

In the second reading, Paul recommends to Timothy—and to all of us — perseverance in prayer, in studying the Scriptures, in the practice of the Faith, and in preaching the word of God. At the time Paul was writing, pressure groups were trying to force Timothy to water down the doctrines of Faith. Therefore, Paul advises Timothy to “preach the word, stay with the task, whether convenient or inconvenient, correcting, reproving, appealing, constantly teaching and never losing patience.” That is, Timothy is to persevere in his ministry of shepherding his people, in spite of obstacles. Our own ministry is to worship the Lord, share the Gospel with others, and bear witness to Christ by growing in discipleship and serving our neighbors lovingly, as Jesus did. Paul also reminds Timothy that the Holy Scriptures are meant to help him in these duties: “All Scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim 3:16-17).

The Gospel today seems to be a classic example of the link between perseverance and blessing. Luke sets the story in the context of a challenge Jesus makes to his disciples to pray always and not lose heart, that is, to persevere in prayer and receive God’s blessings.

This parable is based on the corrupt Roman legal practices prevalent in Palestine at the time of Jesus. We hope that the judge in the parable was not a Jewish judge, because ordinary Jewish disputes were judged before the Jewish elders. In Dt 1:16-17, Moses charged the judges to render fair and honest decisions regardless of the wealth or social standing of the petitioner! So we hope the judge in the parable was one of the paid magistrates appointed either by Herod or by the Romans, for they, like the judge in the parable, were notorious for being so avaricious, corrupt, and without fear of God or the public that people called them “Dayyaneh Gezeloth”, robber judges. Further, athough the Hebrew Scriptures demand protection for widows, orphans, and aliens, widows were not included in Hebrew laws on inheritance, and they became common symbols of the exploited and the oppressed. Prophets like Isaiah (1:23; 10:2), and Malachi (3:5), criticized the harsh treatment widows received, though throughout the Bible, widows are viewed as being under the special protection of God. The widow in Jesus’ parable is the symbol of all who are poor, defenseless, without hope of ever obtaining justice, against a rich, crooked, influential opponent.

But the widow in Jesus’ parable has one powerful weapon—a dogged persistence which allows the judge no peace. Her persistence is also a very public event, and the entire community witnesses the widow’s repeated encounters with the judge. By publicly badgering the judge every day, the woman is trying to shame this shameless person. Finally, the unjust judge is forced to yield. The theme of “persistent prayer” needs to be understood not as “hassling” God, but rather as a consequence of a strong Faith that believes God hears prayers and will indeed answer them in His own time. So the underlying theme is really our need to have Faith in all circumstances, good or adverse. One measure of the depth of our Faith is our constancy in prayer, because prayer is a battle of faith and the triumph of perseverance (CCC #2573). Hence, this parable is not only about the efficacy of persistent prayer, but also about the character of God, His Trustworthiness and Justice, a type of Justice that reaches out to the poor and the weak, enabling them to fight against injustice. God’s Justice goes far beyond human limits and can bring fullness of life to the poorest and the most vulnerable people in our world. Jesus ends the parable with a question, “But when the Son of Man comes [to judge the world], will he find Faith on earth?”

Dear friends, we need to combine formal prayers with action prayer. It is ideal that we start our prayers by reading from the Bible, especially the Psalms and the Gospels. Formal, memorized, and liturgical prayers are also essential for the Christian prayer life. Personal prayer is of great importance in our life of prayer. Talking to God in our own words — praising Him, thanking Him and presenting our needs before Him — transforms our whole life into prayer. We should perfect our prayers by bringing ourselves into God’s presence during our work several times during the day and by offering all that we are, all that we have, and all that we do to God. This will help us to bring all our successes and failures, joys and sorrows, highs and lows to God in prayer. Along with formal and memorized prayers, this type of prayer life enables us to pray always and pray with constancy and trusting perseverance.

We should not expect to get whatever we pray for. This parable does not suggest that God writes a blank check, guaranteeing whatever we want whenever we want it in the form we ask for. But we conveniently forget the fact that, often, a loving father has to refuse the request of a child, because he knows that what the child asks would hurt rather than help him (e.g., a sharp knife). God is like that. He knows what to give, when to give, and how to give. Only God sees time whole, and, therefore, only God knows what is good for us in the long run. That is why Jesus says that we must never be discouraged in prayer. Instead we have to leave the answer to God’s decision saying, as he did in Gethsemane, “Thy will be done.”