Fr. Roger J. Landry
St. Anthony of Padua Church, New Bedford, MA
Twenty-Ninth Sunday in OT, Year C
October 17, 2010
Ex 17:8-13; 2 Tim 3:14-4:2; Lk 18:1-8
The following text guided today’s homily:
- In today’s readings, the Lord stresses our need for persevering prayer.
- First reading, we see Moses and the Amalekites. As long as Moses’ arms were lifted in prayer, the Israelites did well against the Amalekites; when Moses’ arms fell, the Amalekites had the upper hand.
- In the Gospel, Jesus used the parable of the importune widow and the unjust judge as an illustration about the importance of “praying always and not losing heart.”
- Jesus gave us this parable because he knows that many people are “quitters” when it comes to prayer. They may pray once, they may pray twice, but they don’t persevere. Jesus wants us to pray always and never to lose heart.
- Almost on divine cue, the whole world has recently gotten an illustration of the importance of praying always without losing heart.
- For 69 days in Chile, the trapped miners prayed. As soon as they were discovered, they asked for a crucifix, for statues to make a shrine, and led by Mario Gore Messes, they prayed continuously, first to be found, then to be rescued.
- For 69 days, their families prayed constantly above the mine in the desert. They were there praying that they were still alive, praying that they would be found. Then they were there praying that they would be able to be rescued and brought to safety.
- For 69 days, all the people of Chile were praying, joined by the Pope and so many throughout the world.
- And the whole world saw the unbelievable results this past week.
- It is yet another image of the need to “pray always without ever losing heart.”
- Prayer is nothing other than “faith in action”
- If we lose heart in prayer, it means we’ve lost faith in prayer, lost faith in God’s hearing our prayers.
- That’s why Jesus at the end of today’s Gospel asks, hauntingly, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
- To find faith, he wants to find persevering prayer.
- The question for any of us is whether we pray with perseverance or whether we’re a quitter, are we able to go the distance, or will we throw in the towel.
- Just like a marathon runner, if we hope to pray with perseverance, we need to train. We need to pray perseveringly each day.
- That means we pray for set times each day, not just when we feel like it.
- It means that we take advantage of the means for training.
- In this month of October, dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary, we focus on a great tool. What is the Rosary if not a prayer of perseverance, not only praying 53 Hail Mary’s, but each week, meditating anew on the same mysteries, seeking to penetrate their depths, imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise.
- The Mass is a persevering prayer. From the rising of the sun to the setting, the Church offers to God the Father what Jesus himself offered from the Last Supper and the Cross.
- Loved ones in need of prayer. St. Monica.
- For us to pray unceasingly, we often need help and need to give help to others.
- Many of those miners did not have the profound faith to pray with perseverance, but they did have Mario Gore Messes, who helped them to learn to persevere.
- Moses had the help of Aaron and Hur to hold his hands up.
- We need to look around us and see those who have the gift of faith to pray perseveringly, without losing heart, and ask to pray with them. We need to look around us, too, and see those who do not have the faith to pray with insistence and likewise help them. It’s not enough, in other words, for us to pray alone, because that would be like hiking Mt. Washington alone. We’ve got a much better chance if we hike with someone else, or with a whole group.
- Today is a day in which we remember that we’re all called to pray like those in the Chilean mine. We’re called to pray like their family members. If they can do it, we can do it.
- When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? We ask him to help us to pray with living faith today, so that when he comes on this altar, he may find us full of faith, ready to persevere in prayerful union with him through the crosses of life all the way until the heavenly Jerusalem.
The readings for today’s Mass were:
Reading 1 EX 17:8-13
Moses, therefore, said to Joshua,
“Pick out certain men,
and tomorrow go out and engage Amalek in battle.
I will be standing on top of the hill
with the staff of God in my hand.”
So Joshua did as Moses told him:
he engaged Amalek in battle
after Moses had climbed to the top of the hill with Aaron and Hur.
As long as Moses kept his hands raised up,
Israel had the better of the fight,
but when he let his hands rest,
Amalek had the better of the fight.
Moses’hands, however, grew tired;
so they put a rock in place for him to sit on.
Meanwhile Aaron and Hur supported his hands,
one on one side and one on the other,
so that his hands remained steady till sunset.
And Joshua mowed down Amalek and his people
with the edge of the sword.
Responsorial Psalm PS 121:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8
I lift up my eyes toward the mountains;
whence shall help come to me?
My help is from the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.
R. Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
May he not suffer your foot to slip;
may he slumber not who guards you:
indeed he neither slumbers nor sleeps,
the guardian of Israel.
R. Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
The LORD is your guardian; the LORD is your shade;
he is beside you at your right hand.
The sun shall not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
R. Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
The LORD will guard you from all evil;
he will guard your life.
The LORD will guard your coming and your going,
both now and forever.
R. Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
Reading 2 2 TM 3:14-4:2
Beloved:
Remain faithful to what you have learned and believed,
because you know from whom you learned it,
and that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures,
which are capable of giving you wisdom for salvation
through faith in Christ Jesus.
All Scripture is inspired by God
and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction,
and for training in righteousness,
so that one who belongs to God may be competent,
equipped for every good work.
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus,
who will judge the living and the dead,
and by his appearing and his kingly power:
proclaim the word;
be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient;
convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching.
Alleluia HEB 4:12
The word of God is living and effective,
discerning reflections and thoughts of the heart.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel LK 18:1-8
Jesus told his disciples a parable
about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary.
He said, “There was a judge in a certain town
who neither feared God nor respected any human being.
And a widow in that town used to come to him and say,
‘Render a just decision for me against my adversary.’
For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought,
‘While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being,
because this widow keeps bothering me
I shall deliver a just decision for her
lest she finally come and strike me.’”
The Lord said, “Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says.
Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones
who call out to him day and night?
Will he be slow to answer them?
I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.
But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”