Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church

Homily for MMM D, YYYY
Liturgical Year C - Cycle I
29th Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. Andrew Moyo
 Topic: Pray always without losing heart.
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Reading I
Ex 17:8-13
In those days, Amalek came and waged war against Israel.  Moses, therefore, said to Joshua, "Pick out certain men, and tomorrow go out and engage Amalek in battle.  I will be standing on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand."  So Joshua did as Moses told him: he engaged Amalek in battle after Moses had climbed to the top of the hill with Aaron and Hur.  As long as Moses kept his hands raised up, Israel had the better of the fight, but when he let his hands rest, Amalek had the better of the fight. 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. And Joshua mowed down Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
 
Reading II
2 Tm 3:14-4:2
Beloved:
Remain faithful to what you have learned and believed, because you know from whom you learned it, and that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are capable of giving you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
 
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.
 
Gospel
Lk 18:1-8
Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary.  He said, "There was a judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected any human being.  And a widow in that town used to come to him and say, 'Render a just decision for me against my adversary.' For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought, 'While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being,  because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her lest she finally come and strike me.'"  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?"
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Introduction
Dear friends in Christ, there is no doubt that prayer is the theme of today’s readings.  Thus, in the first reading, Moses is at prayer with arms outstretched when the Israelites are at war.  In the second reading, Paul urges Timothy to hold firmly to what he has received and come to believe.  And finally, in the Gospel, Jesus urges his disciples to pray always and not to loose heart.
 
The Gospel of Luke has much emphasis on prayer.  The Gospel begins in the temple with Zechariah serving before God (Lk 1:1-24), and it ends in the temple - we read that after the ascension, the apostles returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God (Lk 24:53).  On the baptism of Jesus, it is only Luke who mentions that Jesus was praying when the Holy Spirit descended on Him (Lk 3,21).  It is also Luke who mentions that Jesus spent the whole night in prayer (Luke 6:12), before he chose the twelve.  Thus, we see that the Gospel of Luke can thus be called the Gospel of Prayer.  If Jesus needed all that time in prayer, don't you and I need time in prayer?  Hence, today he gives us the exhortation: Pray always without losing heart. . .
 
The Parable:
"In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor regarded man; and there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, `Vindicate me against my adversary.’”
 
We have two main protagonists in this story, that is, the poor widow and the judge.
 
Widow:  In ancient Israel, widows were often listed among the more vulnerable members of society.  Often, in the Hebrew Scriptures, special care is urged for the traveler, the children, and the widow. (Duet. 27:19).  It is clear that unscrupulous persons have in fact defrauded the widow of the parable of her property.  Her only recourse is to the local judge.  A defenseless widow is taken advantaged of and refused her rights.
 
The Judge:  The judge in the story has abandoned his covenant of Yahweh.  He has neither the fear of God nor man. He is probably corrupt and is swayed only by bribes - something that this poor lady cannot provide.
 
The widow was quite aware of this situation, knew that the only way to sway the judge, was being patient.  She used to come to the judge and say, render a just decision for me.  She only sought the just execution of her rights.  She knew that this was not a matter of charity, but her right and her due.
 
Now bothered about the persistence and most probably worried about the fact that she might break down the door and literally “give him a black eye”, he gives in.
 
The lesson drawn by Jesus is crystal clear: How much more likely is God, the most just of all judges, ready to grant our requests for justice when we are treated unfairly!
 
Life Situation:
And he told them a parable that they ought to pray and not lose heart. . .
 
The punch line of today’s Gospel is subtle; the need to pray always without losing heart.  From a casual reading, we may be tempted to think that we are being asked to pray until something happens or until we convince God to change his mind.  To pray until we get what we want.
 
This is not about praying until we change God’s mind, but simply an exhortation to pray.  With prayer we are actually opening up, deepening, and strengthening the channels of communication between God and ourselves.  Jesus prayed, and hence today he encourages us also to pray.
 
When we ask God for something, we are showing that we trust him, we are acknowledging our utter dependence on him.  What we are doing is letting him know that we realize how much he is already doing for us.  What happens then in prayer is not that we press a button on a machine for a bar of chocolate and if we get nothing, then we keep pressing it again and again, in the vain hope that eventually a bar of chocolate will drop down.
 
It is not like playing bingo: Many times, we think that there is a mystical number by which we tire God and bingo, here it is!
 
No, when we pray we begin a dialogue and the longer we pray the deeper the dialogue gets.
 
And he told them a parable that they ought to pray always and not lose heart. . .
 
Do we pray always and not lose heart?
 
We loose heart at times of making the same requests day after day, and we feel that God does not reply or hear.
 
Distractions:
We go to mass and fairly often we take part enthusiastically, but at other times, we certainly droop, we loose interest and feel despondent about our faith.  We still go to mass but we can't pray; we sit there all depressed and downhearted.
 
We ask ourselves this question, “does prayer really make a difference? Why should we pray all?”
 
Answer:
Jesus says to us: pray always without losing heart.
Not to loose heart means that we go on praying even though nothing seems to be happening around us.  When I was in the UK I met an old lady, who liked to play bingo.  She had never won, but she continued to play.  She was not at all bothered by the fact that she had never won.  She told me that the most important thing for her was just to play.  She played for fun and she continues to play for fun.  The same should be also with our prayer life.  We pray not because we want something to happen.
 
Moses arms grew weary, but there was Aaron and Hur to lift up his hands.  The same is true with us.  We experience weariness.  God has given us brothers and sisters in Christ, to lift up our hands when we grow weary, just as Aaron and Moses.  How lovely it is that when we pray the Lord’s prayer, we hold our arms together.  What we are saying is: we are bothers and sisters, as brothers and sisters we are there to support and to strengthen each other.  When you feel weary, ask others to pray for you.  You do not do it alone!  Don’t just stay at home and tell yourself you are useless.  Pick up the phone; ask others to pray with you and for you. 
 
In my life as a priest, other people’s prayers - especially my mother and her friends have strengthened me.  When others pray for us, it is as if they are holding our tired arms up.  The tide of prayer, which goes on around us, carries us along.  Maybe it takes us a very long time to regain our energy but eventually we get there, carried along by the support of the others...So, dear brother sisters, pray always, do not loose heart. . .
When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth. . .
 
Faith is first of all, a gift from God.  With faith, we maintain our relationship with God through prayer.  This relationship is maintained not because our prayers are answered but because we know that we are dependent on God.  We will want to persist in our prayers to him, not just because we need his help, but primarily because we want simply to stay in touch with this wonderful Person, who loves us unconditionally.  In the long run, this loving God will give us all that we need and much more.  Thus, Jesus clearly asks that when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?  If we pray without loosing heart, then surely the Son of man will find faith on earth.
 
Conclusion  
Today we have a lesson on praying.  We have to give God a helping hand. . .  A priest was at a boxing match.  The man next to him watched a boxer make the Sign of the Cross.  He asked the priest, "Will that help him?”  "Yes."
replied the cleric, "if he can box."