Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101622.cfm
Recently I received an e-mail message that entitled “Things I Really Don’t Understand.”
It had a list of questions for which there seems to be no clear-cut answer.
Here are a few of them:
· Why do doctors and lawyers call what they do practice?
· Why is abbreviation such a long word?
· Why is a boxing ring square?
· What was the best thing before sliced bread?
· How do they get the deer to cross the highway at those yellow signs?
These questions represent a humorous reminder that there are indeed a lot of things in this life that we really don’t understand. For example, we don’t really understand disease.
Why is a youngster perfectly healthy for 14 years of his life… and then suddenly a germ or bacteria invades his body and destroys it?
We don’t understand accidents, so random and indiscriminate. You start out a day that is like any other day… and then something happens in a matter of seconds … and life is forever different. You can never go back beyond that accident. [Adopted from Sermons.com 10/16/2022]
You can make your own list… of things you don’t really understand.
We often say “I love someone or something” when we really mean “We like someone or something” but we are being sloppy with our words. We cannot love something, and we can only love someone and then only when we want for them the grace of God and are willing to be a conduit for that grace no matter the burden it is for us. So, we should use I love you very infrequently and only when we are willing to pay the price.
“Like the persistent widow, we come before God with our prayers of petition and pleas for help….” Sometimes the answer is not what we hope for or prayed for.
The Judge in this parable does not represent God but gives us a glimpse into how we sometimes behave, placing ourselves and our interests first; finding justice and compassion inconvenient to offer or to pursue. Today’s parable challenges us on we approach God in prayer, do we approach God trying to influence God or change God’s mind? Do we pray to God to build or strengthen our relationship with the Lord? Do we pray to allow God’s answer to guide our response and our life, according to God’s will? Do we pray to learn to hear God speaking to us in the people and world around us, where God’s wisdom is often revealed?
Many times, that wisdom is revealed to us in the people who bless our lives, in the Scriptures we read, the songs we sing, the homilies we hear, the books or articles we read.
1. God hears our prayers and knows are needs.
2. God answers our prayers.
3. God loves each of us and wants us to love Him for our good.
4. God sometimes send angles to help us, sometimes God sends a stranger or a friend, occasionally God comes directly to help us.
5. That’s what Jesus did when He came to show us the Way, the Truth and the Life.
The widow in today’s parable persisted until justice was served. We are called to do the same, to follow Jesus with justice, compassion and peace even though the world does not understand. [Emeritus] Pope Benedict XVI wrote, “The Fathers of the Church say that prayer, properly understood, is nothing other than becoming a longing for God.” [Word Made Flesh, Cycle C, p. 101]
For a few minutes reflect on how you experience prayer; on where you place prayer in your daily life; what role does Scripture [the Word of God] play in your life, do you long for God?
May God Be Blessed.
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