“When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith?”
(Luke 18:8)
Three images of faith are given to us today. Moses, hands lifted up in prayer and assisted by two friends, is an image of persevering prayer that has power to overcome the enemy. The people of God need the prayer of Moses to conquer, and Moses needs the help of Aaron and Hur to persevere in prayer.
St. Paul gives not so much an image as an admonition. Preach the word in season and out of season, when it is convenient and inconvenient. The Word of God entrusted to us has power to save, and God wills that this saving Word be proclaimed to all.
Jesus gives us the persistent widow and the unjust judge. The widow’s persistent prayer compels the judge to give her a just decision. God wills that our persevering prayer be an instrument of his saving will. “But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
God does not change his love, nor his saving will for us. Through our prayer, supported by the communion of the Church, persistent through times of consolation and desolation, God invites us to participate in his saving work.
But at times we sit on our hands rather than raise them up in prayer or open them in service to the poor. In the face of inconvenience or discouragement, we can throw up our hands in desperation and say, “God, it’s your world, your people and your problem. You’ve got the whole world in your hands – you don’t need mine.”
The faith that Jesus calls for in the Gospel is persevering prayer, an open heart even in the face of opposition. It is a communion of our hearts with the heart of God, who hears the poor when they cry out to him, who does not spurn them in their need. Pope Leo writes about God’s care for the poor – and that of the Church – in his recent document, Dilexi Te (“I Have Loved You”).
I have to confess that this saving word comes to my heart as an inconvenience. I don’t want to pray when it is difficult. I don’t want my attitudes to be challenged by God’s word. I don’t want to see and be affected by so many forms of poverty around me. God can take care of the poor and leave my heart alone.
But God does not take back or change his saving will or his saving word. Not even when I am the inconvenience. God persistently knocks at the door of my heart. Jesus longs for the fire of his love to burn in our hearts, and he eagerly desires to share his saving love with us. (Luke 12:49; 22:15)
Maybe the words of the Holy Father can help us listen to the saving – and challenging – word God speaks to us today. If we allow it, this word can help us persevere in prayer, see and serve the poor in our midst, and stir up the fire of love, the living and active faith that Jesus longs to live in our hearts.
-Fr. Tom
