Reflection for Sunday October 16, 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Luke 18:1-8

Gospel: Luke 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?”

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Reflection:

Do we always pray with persistence? Meaning, we pray and pray and we never lose heart until we have what we’ve been praying for. Jesus in our gospel is teaching us that we must be persistent in prayer. Even if what we’ve been praying seems impossible we still have to persistently pray because the impossible becomes very much possible with God. 

In our gospel there’s the presence of a heartless judge who feared and respected no one. Yet when he was pestered by the widow for a just decision he gave it to her. Why? Because the widow did not give up. 

If we are in the shoes of the widow and we know that this judge is impertinent would we still pursue our request for a decision or we simply give up?    

When we have a prayer request before God we must always have the motivation to humbly request God again and again to grant us what we want to have from Him. Never mind if it will take time before God answers what is important is we continue to pray and we never give up. 

Because those who never give up in whatever aspect of life’s endeavor will always get what they want. And this is evidenced by the persistent widow in our gospel. 

Do you easily give up when God does not answer your prayer? - Marino J. Dasmarinas