November 14, 2015
Saturday, 32nd Week in Ordinary Time
1st reading: Wisdom 18:14-16; 19:6-9
Gospel: Lk 18:1-8
Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should pray continually and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor people. In the same town was a widow who kept co-ming to him, saying: ‘Defend my rights against my opponent.’ For a time he refused, but finally he thought: ‘Even though I neither fear God nor care about people, this widow bothers me so much I will see that she gets justice; then she will stop coming and wearing me out.”
And Jesus explained, “Listen to what the evil judge says. Will God not do justice for his chosen ones who cry to him day and night even if he delays in answering them? I tell you, he will speedily do them justice. Yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
PUSH can be another word for perseverance in prayer when taken as an acronym for “Praying Until Something Happens”. But while this meaning and even the word ‘push’ itself inspires perseverance, it can give the wrong impression that praying is a tug-o-war with a reluctant God who has to be sha-ken violently in order to give in to the needs of his people. If prayer were to be reduced to this game, then prayer is no different from a vendo machine that gives out the right product to one feeding it with the right amount. It’s like giving it the right PUSH, and the favor is granted as desired.
God is not a reluctant steward, yet we must pray without ceasing for our own good. Prayer repetition connects us to our inner groaning for a transcendent God. By praying repeatedly we do not remind God of his duty towards humanity but convince ourselves of the necessity of God in our lives. Persistence may not be the right term to use here lest the whole affair can be misconstrued as an exercise of one’s stubbornness akin to the persistence of a stubborn child who goes ballistic if his cla-mor is denied. Rather than using the term persistence we use the term perseverance – a term consistent with our concept of faith.
To persevere in prayer is to dispose oneself to the Will of God. Like Mary who appended her prayer with “Be it done unto me according to your Word”, and like Jesus himself who appended his prayer at the garden of Gethsemane with “Not my will but your will be done”, the prayer of a persevering person always presupposes that God knows better. With this attitude, the persevering person declares that God’s way brings greater efficiency than having his prayer heard lite-rally. This takes us to another acronym for PRAYER which is: ‘Persevere, Rest Assured of Yahweh’s Efficient Reply.’—Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
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PRAYER FOR THE DAY: God our Father, give us true faith so that we may persevere in prayer, and strengthen our confidence that your love for us will never leave our prayers unheard. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
CHURCH BULLETIN:
SAINT OF THE DAY: ST. LAWRENCE O’TOOLE, Bishop. He was born in Ireland in 1128. During a raid he was taken hostage; he was only 10 years old. He was released two years later to the Bishop of Glendalough. The bishop must have touched his life because he became a monk. Later at 25 he became Abbot of Glendalough. He was appointed Archbishop of Dublin 8 years later. Appointed papal legate to Ireland, he attended the General Lateran Council in Rome
