October 21, 2007
Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Rev. Joseph McCloskey, S.J.
Moses' hands, however, grew tired; so they put a rock in place for him to sit on. Meanwhile Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other, so that his hands remained steady till sunset. Exodus 17:12
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingly power: proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching. 2 Timothy 4:1-2
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?” Luke 18:6-8
Christ has no body now on earth but yours;
No Hands but yours;
No feet but yours:
Yours are the eyes through which Christ’s compassion looks out into the world;
Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good;
Yours are the hands with which he is to bless now. St. Theresa of
http://www.usccb.org/nab/102107.shtml
I believe that what I do does make a difference to God. Do you? Hard times make us call out to God for help. The God I need is more present to my mind and heart than a God I did not need would be. We are made for God. Christ is the model of who we should be. He is forever calling out to us in the goodness of our brothers and sister. There is no shortcut to God. We work out our salvation in fear and trembling. We go through the motions without appreciating what we are doing often enough. Moses in holding up his arms believed that God would hear his prayer. It is a graphic example of praying with the body. The battle turned bad when his arms dropped. He had help holding his arms up. We are not in the battle alone. The needs of our brothers and sisters make a difference to us.
How close we are to Christ is the measure of true happiness. God is always willing to listen to the Christ of each of us. When Christ invites us to keep asking in the parable of today he is revealing how he relates to his Father. We have the attention of God when we ask in the name of Christ. Wanting others to share our love of Christ is changing the lives of everyone around us whether we realize it or not.
Jesus told us about the necessity to pray always without becoming weary. If the unjust judge would grant the request of the widow because she asked so insistently, how much more readily will God grant our request if we call out to him day and night. Asking once for what we want does not do the trick. Our faith is shown in the demanding of our hearts that God give us what we need to serve him better. The great saints knew how to ask. God hears the very cry of our hearts because it is the spirit of the Lord that is crying out in the intensity of our needs. We need to be persistent in our prayer whether it is convenient or inconvenient. Our prayer will open our hearts to do what God is asking of us. God is waiting to be asked by us. He will not force his gifts upon us. He will give better than what we are asking. He will give to us at the right time what we really need if we want to be his. Our prayer opens the floodgates of God’s love for us in his Son.
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