Homily for XXIX Sunday (Oct. 20, 2013): Gospel reading: Luke 18: 1-8

Homily for XXIX Sunday Ordinary Time -C (Oct. 20, 2013)

 Gospel reading: Luke 18: 1-8

Fr. Charles Johnson, O.P.

 

For a time, I entertained the idea of law school.  As a political science major, it was often a topic of conversation with classmates as some of them are now attorneys.  However, in classes and later work in the political field where I had and interpret statutes and legal codes, I soon realized that law school and being a lawyer were not for me.  I found legal statutes as complicated as advanced mathematical equations!  Interestingly enough, I find philosophical and theological discourses easier to understand and, even, enjoyable to read. 

I don’t suppose the widow in today’s Gospel parable was a scholar of the law.  She might have found the legal system difficult to understand.  Given the precarious social standing of widows in the time of Jesus, she likely felt vulnerable in facing the legal system and judges. 

Still, she manages to get the just decision she needed.  Very likely, her survival depended on it. 

The widow’s expectation of a just decision was one thing, but the hope and need for justice were what kept her going.  You can almost picture the widow hanging around at the door of the tribunal, knowing that the dishonest judge would have to pass by eventually to get in or out.  Many days, she probably just out-waited him. 

For the widow and anyone facing great odds or a system stacked against them, the struggle can be overwhelming.  Each fall or setback must be matched with a continual getting back up on your feet. 

Persistence? Yes, but something greater was and is at work.  In a word, faith.  Perhaps a better term than persistence is perseverance – almost like persisting, but with sincere purpose, no matter how hopeless the situation might appear.  Appear hopeless, not truly be. 

In a similar situation or other difficult experience, what keeps us going?  How and why do we get back up on our feet and keep persevering, keep struggling and ….. keep loving? 

What’s your secret?  Hopefully, it’s the same as mine.  One that I do not always understand, but I know I can trust it – faith.  An overused and underappreciated term. 

Without it, I’m convinced, not only do we lose hope and the strength to continue, but we also lose sense of purpose.  In life, it seems we rarely get a complete answer when the question, Why? pops up on our radar.  Even so, in faith, we somehow perceive and trust that there is an answer. 

Not in a statute or law, but in Christ who not only told the truth, but puts flesh and bone on it.  Truth, what a concept!  No, what a person, what a Redeemer!  

Pope Francis writes that “following Christ is not a titanic effort of the will, the effort of someone who decides to be consistent and succeeds, a solitary challenge in the face of the world.”   “Following Christ,” in his words, “is not a never falling down, but an always getting up again.”   

Sometimes it might seem that all we have is prayer.  It won’t let us down.

Dr. Martin Luther King wrote that one night in a state of exhaustion and after many malicious threats on his life all he could do was turn to God and in prayer he said, “I’m at the end of my powers.  I have nothing left.  I’ve come to the point where I can’t face it alone.”  At that moment, he said he experienced the presence of God as he never had before.

The signs of the time might indicate that injustice and evil often seem to win out, but such an attitude was not that of the widow in today’s parable.  Like many courageous and God-trusting people, the widow managed to always get up, time and time again.  She seemed to understand.   The time of this world passes by; the Lord’s justice and mercy are eternal and …. trustworthy.