Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

Ex 17:8-13
Ps 121:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8
2Tm 3:14-4:2
Lk 18:1-8

“Remain faithful to what you have learned and believed because you know from whom you learned it…” This passage comes from our second reading today, a passage from a letter to Timothy. One of the most beautiful things of our Catholic faith is the handing-on of our faith. This faith which has grown out of over 2000 years of tradition has been true and faithful to God’s desire in our lives. I find it especially beautiful because we have the assurance of Jesus Christ and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Some may ask or think to themselves, “Why should I baptize my child? Shouldn’t I wait so that my child can make his or her own decisions?” I used to be glad that I had the opportunity to choose my faith growing up, but at the same time I wonder to myself, “Why did I have to prolong something so good for so long? I could have enjoyed the grace and blessings of my God and a relationship with God so much sooner!” As St Augustine writes in his confessions, “Late have I loved you! Late have I loved you…”. Scripture and Tradition are part of our rich inheritance, a revelation from God that opens an intimate relationship with Him. And from that rich and abundant life with God, flows our spiritual life into our daily life.

When we meditate on scripture and ponder its meaning, we are pondering the Word of God; we are pondering his self-gift to us. When you read scripture and you do not derive a richness of God speaking to you in a personal way, it is not scripture that is boring, but something is blocking the communication between you and Him. Prayer and scripture are intimately tied together in the times of the day that you take to commune with God. Yes, I know that everyone has their responsibilities in life be it job, family, friends and the like. These are priorities that you have already set and are perhaps difficult to change. But in your life, when given a choice between doing the things that have to be done and the things needing to be done, you will do the things that you want to do because they give you more satisfaction. If you truly wanted or desired prayer and God in your life, then you would make time to make it happen.

When one takes a long and critical look at their own life, they will find the short comings that are easy enough to spot: I could be more holy, I could be nicer, I could pray the rosary more, etc. Within these sins, it is imperative that you examine why or what caused you to commit those sins. God desires a conversion and not a laundry list of sins for confession. You go to the priest for confession not because you want to erase the chalkboard of your soul, but so that Jesus can write how much He loves you and you Him. God desires conversion of heart and in so doing your heart beats not to pump blood but to repeat the sounding love and praise of the Holy Spirit.

As you transform and as you grow in relationship with God, the stories in the first reading and gospel will start to make more sense. The story is very simple: Moses raises his arms for the Israelites to fight against Amalek, and the fight goes well as long as Moses’ arms stayed up. The Gospel speaks of the parable of the widow that incessantly pleads her cause to an unjust judge and by analogy if the unjust judge grants a something out of fear of his own well-being and the persistence of the widow, then surely God Almighty will be able to grant good things to us. Both of these stories at first blush show perseverance of the faith. That is, if you keep at something long enough, you’ll get what you want. Any spoiled kid will tell you the secrets of getting what they want from their parents.

If you want to be or act like a spoiled brat in front of God, be my guest I won’t stop you; it’s his ears you are talking off, not mine.  Perseverance is definitely a virtue that is commendable and should be kept up. If you have perseverance you should persevere in it!!!

What I was saying earlier about desires is very important and what separates a spoiled brat and a good kid is easy. A spoiled brat will put on a mask and change their behavior until he or she gets their way. As soon as the objective is achieved, it’s back to acting nasty. However, a good child will change his or her behavior out of love for mother and father and not for the objects or favors desired. And because the good child does this out of love he or she will keep on doing it because it’s a good thing to do. In other words, the spoiled brat remains the same and the good child grows.

When we pray and when we ask God for something, do we pray incessantly while putting on our best behavior until we get what we want? Or do we pray constantly because our hearts and minds are on our Lord and desiring that his will be done?
It goes without saying that persevering in prayer is critical. We pray without ceasing and we lift our arms up like Moses in our daily battles. We assume the position of prayer, hands out extended so that we may lift our prayers to God and receive his blessings in our life. The longer we keep a mind and heart of prayer, the better we will fare in our daily struggles. In order to do so, especially in those times of need, we must cultivate our faith that was handed down to us. We have been given a rich treasure of sacred scripture and the teachings of the Church. Let us use them and take advantage of them. These are filled with rich descriptions, prescriptions, and meditations that enrich our relationship with God and help us to know our Lover better.

As the letter to Timothy says, “…be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching.” At the same time we are charged with a mission to grow in faith and to spread the faith down to others. It we truly believe in the goodness of the message of Love in our lives, there would and should be no hesitation to tell others about it. If the Lord has not touched your life in some way, ask for it and desire it. I earnestly desire a deeper conversion in your life as much as I do desire one in mine. As blessed as I may be with the people of God around me daily, I desire even more. The goodness of God in my life can only be given if I grow in relationship with Him each and every day. Let us glory in what He has done for us in thanksgiving to Him for the wonderful blessings in life.