Sunday, October 16, 2022

 TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

(Exodus 17:8-13; II Timothy 3:14-4:2; Luke 18:1-8)

Who are the Amalekites?  They appear in today’s first reading, but in almost no other part of the Bible.  Nor are they found in many anthropological studies.  There is good reason for these absences.  In the verse that immediately follows today’s reading, God Says, “I will completely wipe out the memory of Amalek from under the heavens.’”  Like the Nazis the Amalekites hated Israel.  Neither did they respect the Lord, the God of Israel, even after His impressive victory over Pharoah’s army.  It seems that they attack the Israelites for no other motive than hatred.  For this reason, it can be said that the Amalekites represent a compendium of evil.  They symbolize prejudice with hatred, and also all the evil caused by natural catastrophes.

In the gospel Jesus instructs his disciples how to face overwhelming evil.  He has just informed them of the trials that will come at the end of time.  He said that they will be persecuted and will suffer greatly.  In Nigeria, the Middle East, and China Christians risk their lives when they attend mass.  To overcome this type of evil Jesus exhorts his disciples to pray untiringly.

Constant prayer springs from an unbreakable faith.  The person with this faith does not waver wondering if God is listening.  Rather, he or she accepts Jesus’ teaching that God is like a doting father always ready to help his children.  All He wants is that they ask Him with persistence.  To emphasize the need to pray with persistence, Jesus tells the parable of the so-called “Unjust Judge.” However, as in the case of the “Prodigal Son,” a better name can be given to this parable more in conformance with its meaning.  It is the parable of the “Insistent Widow” who does not cease to demand what is hers by right.

Jesus recommends to his disciples that they pray with the same insistence when they confront great evil.  He says that they are not going to be disappointed.  Once an African American pastor was teaching his congregation the need to pray without tiring.  Having grown up in times of legal discrimination, the pastor told them: “Until you have stood for years knocking at a locked door with your knuckles bleeding, you do not know what prayer is!””

Although he does not mention prayer in the second reading, St. Paul suggests the same unbreakable faith to his disciple Timothy who is confronting many challenges.  As Jesus, Paul does not want his disciple to take recourse in crude

 methods but to use spiritual weapons.  He recommends the use of Scripture to carry out his duties.  Certainly, the Bible features incessant prayer as Moses does in the first reading.  The leader of the Israelites with arms raised in the form of prayer and clinging to the staff of God as if it were a rosary does not stop praying until the enemy is defeated.

The gospel passage ends on a disquieting note.  As if he were referring to our times, Jesus asks: “…when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Today many have abandoned the faith of their ancestors.  Although some claim that they still believe in God, they do not want to submit to His will as found in the Bible.  One suspects that they do not pray much at home either.  Among these people we like find some of our children and grandchildren, other relatives, and friends.  We wonder, “What can we do for them?” Surely we should show them Christ by living just and holy lives.  But even more urgent is persistent prayer.  We have to pray persistently that they see the true light which is Christ.