There is a powerful exhortation in today’s readings to be persistent in our faith, our efforts, and our prayers. I think we sometimes are too easily discouraged when we don’t receive an immediate response from our Lord to what we ask of Him. Our Lord hears us, he never ignores us, but the timing of His response, and the content of His response are up to His plan alone. Yet we are called to be persistent in prayer and humbly asking Him for help, nonetheless, and this is especially so when we feel tired or discouraged in our prayer life.
In our second reading today, Saint Paul offers a powerful solution to the spiritual tiredness or fatigue that can sometimes impede our prayer lives – it is the reading of Sacred Scripture. As he tells us, the word of God contained in scripture has a powerful effect on both the endurance and efficacy of our prayer lives, as well as supporting our skills in teaching and correcting others. If we come to know God’s words intimately, we come closer in intimacy to Him. This is crucial both to each one of us personally, but also to those around us who may be influenced by us. Who of us can continue to act against God’s teachings when we truly spend time reading and pondering His word, and letting ourselves be infused with His message, or are privy to others examples of His words in their actions? If we are really immersing ourselves in this way, I don’t think that is possible. Not to say that we cannot stumble occasionally, but overall, it changes us and draws us closer to Him at all levels.
In our Gospel today, we hear the parable of the widow who must overcome the unjust judge. She does this through sheer perseverance, and unwavering resolve to obtain a just decision. The judge for his part, is both worn down by this, but is also frankly wary of the power that this poor woman wields through her continuous search for justice. We can learn a lot from this, it can be difficult to continue to pursue our call to be God’s people who demonstrate to others His commands when we become tired ourselves, and perhaps lose our zeal for showing His word to others through our actions. This is when we can look to her example and realize that it is exactly at times like these when we need to focus even more on staying the course. If others, like the widow, can do this, so can we. We simply need to use a mixture of both resolve, which we can obtain as a grace through prayer, and taking steps to re-strengthen and refresh ourselves through reading the inspired word of God in Sacred Scripture and allow it to recharge and perhaps show us new ways of dealing with a given situation. God’s word is complete in addressing what we may encounter in this life if we extrapolate from the content, and as we get to know it better, we will find that there is no shortage of examples and solutions that are present in scripture. When He ascended back to heaven, Jesus told His disciples that He would not leave them alone, and so He sent the Holy Spirit upon them, and through their inspired writings of the events of Jesus time here on earth we have the gift of very direct knowledge of Him. This is in the same tradition as the writings of the prophets who came to God’s people to deliver His message and to guide them, and it is has been powerful through the ages, just as it is now if we allow it to wash over us. With this powerful gift, we can be confident in our struggles and in our personal vocation to be God’s people who draw others to Him by how we live, how we speak of Him, and how we share His love.
The Deacons Bench 