Hearing the Cries of the Oppressed

Today's Gospel, Luke 18: 1-8, tells the story of a judge who care about no one, not God nor any human being. A woman persistently approaches him for a just decision and he delivers it to her, saying: "'While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being, because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her lest she finally come and strike me.'"  His response to her is to avoid negative consequences to himself if he continue to ignore her. He wants her off his back--he is, basically, thinking only about himself and does not really care about the woman.

Our God is not like that judge.  St. Luke says to us in this passage: "Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says.  Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them? I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

God sees our affliction. God hears our cries for help. God knows what we are going through. God cares and comes to help  us, as He did for the Israelites when He appeared to Moses in the burning  bush. God cared that the Israelites had become slaves of the Egyptians. It took time to free them but He held nothing back to bring them out of slavery into a land of freedom. Jesus, the Son of God, held nothing back either in securing our freedom from slavery to anything to which we have become slaves: hatred, bigotry, misogyny, prejudice, revengeful feelings and thoughts, promiscuity, jealousy, envy, selfishness, deceitfulness, corruption and any other evil trap into which were may have fallen. God is on our side in the darkest of moments and will not abandon us when the going gets rough and we know not how we will survive or get back on the right track! God knows when we need help--do we know that we need help? Are we calling for God's help. He is right there beside us waiting for us to turn to Him. He also sends people to help us just as He sent Moses to help his fellow Israelites!  Many times, we may be the one God is asking to help a neighbor in distress.  Are we listening?