32ND WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Blessed Virgin Mary
St. Elizabeth of Hungary, religious
Psalter: Week 4 / (White)
Ps 112:1-2, 3-4, 5-6
Blessed the man who fears the Lord.
1st Reading:3 Jn 5-8
Beloved, you do well to care for the brothers and sisters as you do. I mean, those coming from other places. They spoke of your charity before the assembled Church. It will be well to provide them with what they need, to continue their journey, as if you did it for God. In reality, they have set out on the road for his name without accepting anything from the pagans. We should receive such persons, making ourselves their cooperators in the work of the truth.
Gospel: Lk 18:1-8
Jesus told them a parable, to show them that they should pray continually and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain town there was a judge, who neither feared God nor people. In the same town there was a widow, who kept coming to him, saying, ‘Defend my rights against my adversary!’ For a time he refused, but finally he thought, ‘Even though I neither fear God nor care about people, this widow bothers me so much, I will see that she gets justice; then she will stop coming and wearing me out.”
And Jesus said, “Listen to what the evil judge says. Will God not do justice for his chosen ones, who cry to him day and night, even if he delays in answering them? I tell you, he will speedily do them justice. But, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Reflections
We have always a reason to complain about what’s happening around us. However the widow in the gospel was a woman vulnerable to being taken advantage of in any number of ways. She was easy prey to those who would take gain of her financial straits and her physical vulnerability. She is probably up against a wealthy opponent and his bribes. We don't know what the opponent she wants justice from has done to her, but whatever it is, she is not going to stand for it. Despite her weak position, she gains her cause by persistence. This parable commends persistent prayer and action on behalf of God's justice. If an unjust judge grants vindication because someone pesters him, how much more will God vindicate God's people in the end? God will act speedily to grant justice. The question is, like the widow, do we have the determination and courage to secure justice for the weak and the defenseless? Are we ready for the long-haul fight for justice and peace. Joan Chittister writes: To sustain a stay in a dry and barren desert, it is necessary to be about something great enough to be worth a lifetime of unrewarded effort. The great questions of life are questions that do not admit of cheap and easy answers. They are rooted in the bedrock of the culture and demand the emptying out of souls before they can really be answered. The women’s issue is an obvious one, for instance, but it is not an easy one. That women must soon be seen as equals in the church, adults in the world, artists and thinkers in society is clear. The amount of education and analysis and protest and courage that it will take, on the other hand, to reshape centuries of warped and distorted and heretical thought patterns that have been theologized and institutionalized in the name of God staggers the mind.
Daily Reflection 2018
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Biblical Texts are taken from Christian Community Bible, Catholic Pastoral Edition (57th Edition) The New English Translation for the ROMAN MISSAL
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