TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
19 OCTOBER 2025
On
his way to Jerusalem, Jesus continues to teach his disciples how to nurture
their faith. He knows that their faith
will be sorely trusted when he will be betrayed, unjustly condemned, and
crucified like a common criminal. So, he
insists that they must learn to be persistent.
He not only tells them that they will need to be persistent. He also tells us that we need to be
persistent, as we walk together on our pilgrimage to the new and eternal
Jerusalem.
Our
Scripture readings provide three examples of persistence. One is from the battlefield. As long as Moses persists in holding up his
staff for his warriors to see, they are successful in their battle with the
Amalekites. The second is from a church
setting. Saint Paul addresses Timothy. As a new pastor, Timothy faces an unknown
situation that requires him to be ready.
He must be persistent in preaching, rebuking, correcting, and
instructing. The third example is from a
courtroom. A poor widow who has no power
or public standing appears before an unjust judge. The judge ignores her. But because she is persistent in arguing her
case, he finally relents. Jesus insists that
if a widow can get what she needs from an unjust judge, how much more will we
receive from a just God who loves us unconditionally.
Persistent
faith has four qualities. Persistent
faith relies on God’s power. The widow
has no power whatsoever. But that does not
stop her from pestering the unjust judge.
Like her, we have so little power over what happens to us in our lives. We must rely on God’s power and grace. Persistent faith works with others. Moses must rely on Aaron and Hur to be
persistent in holding up the staff.
Persistent faith involves inconvenience.
If we persist in faith, we need to throw out the calendar. God acts in his own time, not on our time or
convenience. Persistent faith permits us
to be inconvenient to others. We can be
inconvenient to others when we are determined to take care of the poor, widows,
refugees, and those at the edges of our society.
Last week,
the Lord gave me an unexpected encounter with persistent faith. Bishop
Rhoades had announced that our annual Continuing Education Days would be
dedicated to the upcoming Diocesan Synod.
I didn’t want to go and was tempted to play the “I’m a retired priest”
card. But, I relented and went reluctantly
as pastor of this Parish. As the oldest
priest in the group, I felt out of place.
My expectations were very low, and I wanted out.
But, I was
pleasantly surprised. We were divided into
groups of ten and assigned to a particular table. In my group were priests to whom I rarely
talked or with whom I disagree. Some
were priests of a very different generation.
Another was a priest of a religious order whose name I did not
know. There were three sessions. Each session began with a prayer. Then each of us were given two minutes to share
our thoughts about what is positive about our parishes and the Diocese. Then we had three minutes of prayer. Next, each of us had a minute and a half to share
what we had heard others say. Again,
there were three minutes of prayer.
Finally, each of us had a minute and a half to speak about what we heard
the Spirit saying through us. On
Thursday morning, we received the results of our sessions. All of us priests agreed that this had been a
very positive experience. I was glad for
my persistence in going to the sessions.
And that is the great thing about low expectations. It is impossible to be disappointed!
What we did
is exactly we as a parish will do. We
have scheduled five sessions on the Tuesdays of November on the themes of the
Synod: Evangelization, Catechesis,
Spirituality and Liturgy, Vocations, and Social Outreach to the poor and
suffering. We will have two Consultation
Sessions on the first two Sundays of December.
Please be persistent in faith and be part of this process. Based on my own experience, you will not be
disappointed.
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