In today's Gospel, Luke 18-18, Jesus tells a parable in which He speaks about the necessity to "pray always without becoming weary." The parable is about a widow who does not give up in persisting that the judge render her a just decision. The judge holds out for a long time and then finally says to himself: "While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being, because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver her a just decision for her lest she finally come and strike me." If this dishonest judge will finally respond positively to this widow, will God not respond to us when we call to him, day and night, for justice to also be done in our situations? Luke emphatically states: "I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for [us] speedily. But when the Son of Man comes," Luke asks, "will he find faith on earth?"
We may find it difficult to continue praying for justice, when, day after day, the evening news repeatedly informs us of people within and outside of our government getting away with one crime after another: mass scale shootings, including children being shot in scho persons of color apprehended--shot and killed (some not even being the criminal that was being pursued)--innocent policemen ambushed and killed, undocumented persons denied the right to pursue a legal path to citizenship, millions losing affordable health insurance, treaties to protect the earth and its inhabitants being revoked and on and on! I want to cry out: God, where are you! I am sure that children being bullied or persons facing terminal illnesses that will leave their children without a parent may also want to scream: God, are you listening!
The Israelites were in the same position when enslaved by the Egyptians. We read in today's first reading, Wisdom 18: 14-16; 19: 6-9: "When peaceful stillness compassed everything, and the night in its swift course was half spent, [God's] all-powerful word, from heaven's royal throne bounded, a fierce warrior, into the doomed land, bearing the sharp sword of [God's] inexorable decree....[A]ll creation, in its several kinds [then and in the time of Noah], was being made over anew, serving its natural laws, that your children might be preserved unharmed. The cloud overshadowed [the camp of the Israelites]; and out of what had before been water, dry land was seen emerging; out of the Red Sea an unimpeded road, and a grassy plain out of the mighty flood. Over this crossed the whole nation sheltered by [God's] hand, after they beheld stupendous wonders."
God can and will do the same for us today! God is mighty! God is a warrior God, who is on the side of those who, in faith, call upon Him day and night! Let us, in faith, turn back to God for the help we need today to turn away from the darkness of sin!
Showing posts with label Persistent Prayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Persistent Prayer. Show all posts
Saturday, November 18, 2017
Saturday, November 15, 2014
"...[P]ray always without becoming weary," Jesus says to us in today's Gospel, Luke 18: 1-8. The
widow in the parable repeatedly went to the judge in her town asking for "a just decision against her adversary." The judge was unwilling to hear her out but she repeatedly presented her need. Finally he paid attention to her, fearing that she would strike him if he continued ignoring her.
God is not like that unjust judge. He willingly pays attention to our petitions. He sends the Holy Spirit to those of us who ask for the Spirit's help: His counsel, His fortitude, His consolation, His wisdom, His power, His intervention to bring about a good in our lives, in the lives of others and in the world of our day. We may not see that God is at work as a result of our intercessory prayer, but faith tells us that it is so, as it was with Jesus nailed to the cross during the crucifixion, begging that the Father forgive his persecutors (we are those persecutors when we sin against one another and against ourselves). The world we bring to Christ in prayer is always transfigured, made new, transformed from death to new life in Christ Jesus, whether we see the Spirit at work or not. God's redemptive work will not be thwarted by humanity and it is important that we bring that which needs God's intervention to Him in our prayer.
Like the widow, let us repeatedly bring our needs, the needs of our families, the needs of the world into our prayer, pleading that justice become a reality, that wrongs are righted, as they were through Jesus' death on the cross, where sin was destroyed and we were set free of our slavery to sin.
May we realize the freedom God wants to give us day by day, hour by hour and accept His invitation to pray always--being honest with Him about our hopes, our fears, our worries, our frustrations, in short, being real with the Lord, never hesitating to talk to God about anything and everything as we would with our soul mate.
widow in the parable repeatedly went to the judge in her town asking for "a just decision against her adversary." The judge was unwilling to hear her out but she repeatedly presented her need. Finally he paid attention to her, fearing that she would strike him if he continued ignoring her.
God is not like that unjust judge. He willingly pays attention to our petitions. He sends the Holy Spirit to those of us who ask for the Spirit's help: His counsel, His fortitude, His consolation, His wisdom, His power, His intervention to bring about a good in our lives, in the lives of others and in the world of our day. We may not see that God is at work as a result of our intercessory prayer, but faith tells us that it is so, as it was with Jesus nailed to the cross during the crucifixion, begging that the Father forgive his persecutors (we are those persecutors when we sin against one another and against ourselves). The world we bring to Christ in prayer is always transfigured, made new, transformed from death to new life in Christ Jesus, whether we see the Spirit at work or not. God's redemptive work will not be thwarted by humanity and it is important that we bring that which needs God's intervention to Him in our prayer.
Like the widow, let us repeatedly bring our needs, the needs of our families, the needs of the world into our prayer, pleading that justice become a reality, that wrongs are righted, as they were through Jesus' death on the cross, where sin was destroyed and we were set free of our slavery to sin.
May we realize the freedom God wants to give us day by day, hour by hour and accept His invitation to pray always--being honest with Him about our hopes, our fears, our worries, our frustrations, in short, being real with the Lord, never hesitating to talk to God about anything and everything as we would with our soul mate.
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