October 16, 2016

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time - A Reflection by Fr. Leo

 

Our Scriptures today teach us to live with hope.  In the gospel the widow perseveres and the unjust judge grants her justice. We are told that God will act speedily for the just one and that all is needed is faith in the powerful presence of God, demonstrated when Moses’ hands are held up by Aaron and Hur.

 

I confess, this is easier said than done.  The widow had to hound the judge for a long time.  Doesn’t seem swift to me.  Yet, God’s time is not our time.  In spiritual matters, what is swift?  What was important is the widow’s perseverance and the judge’s giving in.  That was a timeless lesson we are all invited to heed.

 

Today we have many reasons to be discouraged, but in what matters, our union with God, we can live in hope because, in this very moment all our deepest self hungers for and seeks, is with us.  This knowledge helps us persevere like the widow who kept after the judge.  I love the fact that she did not give up!  Nor are we to give up. We are to pray and work for justice, trusting that God is working through us and with us to bring his Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

 

Let us live in hope then, trusting that God is with us, that he loves us, and that he is answering our prayers in the contents of his will and wisdom.