Faith Mission & Learning

From our Priest
Fr Kevin Redmond SM

In the Gospel for this Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time Jesus tells a parable “about the need to pray continually and never lose heart…” talking about an judge and a widow. Jesus says the judge, “had neither fear of God nor respect for man,” and the widow kept coming to him to ask for justice against her enemy. Although he refused, eventually he gave in because he realised that the widow would not give up. Jesus promises us that God will see justice done and done speedily for those who cry out, day and night, to him. Jesus ends with a question of whether “when the Son of Man comes, will he find any faith on earth?”

This is a serious question because maintaining faith is a challenge. There seems to be so many examples of where injustice appears to be the norm, where good people suffer and evil thrives. Where is God in all of this? I believe this parable about the judge and the widow can help us in discovering an answer to this universal question.

The judge is not what you could call ‘good’. It seems that he is in the job for the honour and power and not for delivering justice. However, even someone who is in a role for the wrong reasons will eventually do the right thing, we are told. The judge will give the widow her rights because he recognises that she will just keep coming, even annoying him to death, if he does not.

We can all hope and pray that people are undertaking a role or a job for the right reasons. That they want to serve, help and build up others and the community impartially rather than selfishly looking after their own possessions and friends. Unfortunately, this is not always the case but faced with this ‘reality’ what is our response? In part we are invited to have the faith of the widow. The widow was determined to see justice done and refused to take no for a final answer.

The widow did not give in and settle or worse become like those who opposed her. Her thirst for justice gave her energy and the motivation to keep going. You and I can know God will see justice done, but we have to maintain our hope, trust and love to achieve this.

God Bless,

Fr. Kevin Redmond SM