Word to the Wise
Saturday, November 13, 2010 - St. Frances Xavier Cabrini
[3 John 5-8 and Luke 18:1-8]Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity to pray always without becoming weary.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2010 ST. FRANCES XAVIER CABRINI [3 John 5-8 and Luke 18:1-8] Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity to pray always without becoming weary. When I was a law student I often heard the expression, "Justice delayed is justice denied!" The expression seems to apply quite appropriately to the unjust judge in the parable that Jesus tells today. Of course, that judge underestimated the stubbornness and anger of the widow! He finally gives in because he is worried not only that the woman will physically attack him, he is worried about the loss of face that he is suffering because the widow is making the whole matter quite public! Jesus is pointing out that if someone as corrupt and self-centered as the judge in the parable responds to persistent efforts, surely a just and loving God will respond to "the chosen ones who call out to him day and night?" The pastoral challenge that arises from this is considerable! I've had good people in my office with tears and sorrow because they have literally prayed for years for justice in a particular matter and have not received the response they feel they need. In many cases that response would be "objectively" what the gospel would consider a just response. But God seems silent to them. Is God self-centered? Is God busy? Has God been bribed? Is God "picking on" certain members of the faithful? Are certain persons being asked to accept delay or "denial" in some kind of test of their fidelity? These questions and more have been asked in my office or the confessional. St. Thomas Aquinas (O.P.) points out that the best way to see our relationship with God is that of friendship. If we are wise in the ways of friendship, we know that everything we want FROM a friend may not happen! Does that mean we break off the friendship? If, as St. Thomas says, the essence of friendship is to desire the best for the loved one, must we assume that a close friend will always give us what we WANT? A best friend will take our car keys from us when we're drunk! Of course that's all to the good, but when one sees the abject misery of so much of the world's population, one wonders where and how God's justice will occur! The response to that is through the persistent efforts of folks like you and me, and not through some grand and dramatic Deus ex machina event. Although God is not like the judge in the parable, we can certainly be like the widow AMEN.
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