SATURDAY, THIRTY SECOND WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
3 Jn 5-8; Ps 112: 1-6; Lk 18: 1-8, 55
UNCEASING PRAYER INCREASES OUR HOPE
The reading from the third Letter of St John and Psalm 112 talk about the Loyalty, Justice, Truth and Perseverance. The Gospel aims to bring out the same theme but does it in a very different way. The Judge in the gospel is neither just nor loyal to God or his people. He also seems to not care about the poor and needy in the land, even the widows who usually did not have protectors or providers during those days. The two themes that the parable aims to bring out are to pray unceasingly and to not lose heart (Lk 18:1).
We usually struggle with both in our lives. To pray unceasingly pre-supposes that we have a disposition and a firm faith that God is in control and I am not going to strive to take that control into my own hands. When we trust ourselves more than God, we create a dynamic of trying to do things ourselves before going to God. Bringing something to God in prayer becomes our last resort when it should be the first thing we do. To pray unceasingly means to start with prayer in thanksgiving, move to supplication and culminate at intercession. This teaches us an important attitude of always turning to the Lord and building a discipline of unceasing prayer.
The theme of not losing heart means a deep reliance and trust in the Lord who is the creator and saviour of all. For ‘We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him’ (Rom 8:28). We are called to rely deeply on him and place our hope in the salvation he has gratuitously offered us. Unceasing prayer is deeply reliant on this hope and as hope increases, even in difficult circumstances, so does our prayer. The object of our hope is a God who is all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-good. Therefore, our hope ought to be as strong as the man who built his house on rock (Matt 7:24-27), not shaken or shattered by winds or storms.
Response: Blessed the man who fears the Lord.
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