The Gospel reading for the 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Luke 18:1-8) so captured my attention that I have been thinking of it for over a week. It was Luke's portrayal of the poor widow who day by day went persevering to plead for justice before the unjust judge. By right it should have been her father or brother who took her side in court, but she had no one. The judge himself boasted that he feared neither God nor man. Yet even he finally gives in and grants her request. The image of this poor little woman threatening the powerful man with a black eye and finally winning her case by sheer persistence is sheer comic relief.
However, the last sentence of this Scripture passage is what has reechoed in my mind: "When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" Will Jesus find us imitating the poor widow? Whether it is in relationships, financial reverses, serious illness, or an uncertain future, will we, like the widow, persistently cling to our faith no matter what happens? This is an almost daily challenge. Yet we put our faith in a God who is just and who loves us beyond words.
Dear God, please give us the grace to persevere when you do not seem to be answering our prayers as soon as or as we wish. As Dante wrote in his Divine Comedy, "In Your Will is our peace."
