Twenty Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

Ex 17.8-13;
Ps 120;
II Tim 3.14-4.2;
Lk 18.1-8

In today’s scriptural readings, we find the theme persistency in prayer and faith. Prayer is oneness with God, when we raise our mind and heart towards Him. Faith is to believe in God and all that he reveals to us. We receive faith from God. From the time of Abraham our father in faith to Jacob who wrestled with the angel of the Lord and to Moses the great prophet and even till this present day, God has given the gift of faith, but also called men and women to live in faithfulness to him.

Nowadays, many see faith as a personal, even a private matter. While it is true that faith must engage our own heart and mind, the danger with this individualism is that it leads away from God’s truth to private ‘doctrine’. Living by a personal religion is not the same as living in faithfulness to God who has revealed himself in Christ, Our Lord through his Church.

Saint Paul, in the second letter to Timothy, writes that all scripture is inspired for God and can profitably be used for teaching, for refuting error, for guiding people’s lives and teaching them to be holy. And the Church, in its use of Holy Scripture, its proclamation of the gospel, its reflection on Our Lord’s person and His divine and human nature, continues to offer us an authentic, trustworthy interpretation of the faith for the age in which we live. Our Lord founded a community, not a society for individualists. He provided a structure to provide continuity and to guarantee the faith.

It is this faith that pushes us to persist in prayer. To persevere and never lose heart.In today’s gospel, we encounter Jesus speaking to us about our faith and never to lose heart. The parable of the widow and the judge shows the struggle in demanding justice. From all indications, there was no way out. As a widow is was all alone. The judge has no fear of God and no respect for man. Worst still , he decided not to function since listening is part of the profession. He later thought this through.

Therefore, dear brethren in Christ Never cease to pray. Prayer is your communication to God. It does not have to be only when you are asking. We pray because we see God as Our loving Father who wants to share His divine life with us. We depend on God and with Him all things are possible. St. John Paul II once said that, prayer is in fact the recognition of our limits and dependence. We come from God, we are of God and to God we return. Stay close to God in prayer and the scriptures, and love and serve Him! Have faith and do not give up.

Fr Joseph Osho