Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Prayer enables us to receive the graces we need to be God’s family, friends, and collaborators. It is our way of conversing with God which tells us about His love and sustains us in His grace and mercy.

Gospel according to Luke 18:1-8

Jesus told the disciples a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God not had respect for any human being. In the at city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’ For a while the judge refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for any human being, yet this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’” And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. Will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, God will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

Reflections

Among Jesus’ teachings, we frequently encounter metaphors that aim to describe the Kingdom of God and instructions on how we may live so that we may merit to enter it. The parable of the persistent widow and the corrupt judge teach us that one of the keys to the kingdom of God is maintaining close relationship with God through prayer.  

Prayer is an essential spiritual act of seeking a relationship with God. It is a two-way communication, through which we express our thoughts and feelings, our sentiments to God and about God and His actions, and listen to discern His guidance, direction and will for our lives. (1) Prayer can be structured, as when we recite the Psalms or well-known and rehearsed lines, such as the Our Father, Glory Be, or Hail Mary, from the heart, and improvised, when we put our praise, thanksgiving, or petitions in the form of spontaneous thoughts or sentences in front of God. (2)

According to Pope Francis, “Prayer is the way we allow God to act in us, to understand what he wants to communicate to us even in the most difficult situations, prayer is having the strength to go forward…it opens the heavens: it gives life oxygen, a breath of fresh air amidst life’s troubles and allows us to see things from a broader perspective” (cf. v. 21, 22; 3)

Almost all religious traditions have rituals and guidelines about what constitutes prayer and what is good prayer. Jesus set an example for us on how to pray. (3) He prayed frequently, and fervently throughout the day and sometimes the night. He prayed about his mission, about his disciples, about his immediate circumstances, such as when he was crucified, and prayed for those that “do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). He prayed for the Father’s will to be done (John 17:11-26; Luke 22:42; Hebrews 5:7; Luke 6:12-13).  

In last week’s Gospel, when ten lepers cried out to Jesus, he healed them instantly (Luke 17:1-19). He responded to their prayers. But we know that there were many people in Judea at the time of Jesus who were not able to see Him and who did not obtain healing. For example, John 5:1-15 tells of a scene at the pool of Bethesda, where “…a large crowd of sick people, blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches” waiting of a miraculous healing (John 5:3). Jesus approached only one of them, and this man was healed.   

Sometimes, even in our lives, we may find that no matter how intensely we pray and ask God about a favor, this may not be granted. It is on the one hand, wonderful to believe that God is benevolent, omnipotent, omniscient and omni-present, who loves us knows about our needs even before we articulated them. On the other hand, it is a mystery to ponder that his will is a mystery that we cannot intellectually comprehend. His ways are greater than our ways. However, he can, at His will, enter the world, and alter even impossible situations. For example, there are medically unexplained miracles that are recorded in scientific literature. (4) 

Faced with this dialectic between the mystery of obtaining graces, and God above human reasoning, and persuasion, the question arises, what is the role of prayer?

According to Catholic scholars, (1) prayer can help us to nurture a relationship with God through encounter and seeking to know Him and His ways better, so that He can  act through us and act in our lives; (2) we can accept and submit to the will of God when a situation is unchangeable, and we can leave the final judgement in His hands; and (3) we can intercede in front of God, call on the name of God through the Holy Spirit, for people, nations, or situations, including our own, that are beyond our influence and control, trusting in His Divine insight and supreme authority. In each of these instances, prayer is an intimate conversation with God, “…a gift of grace and a determined response on our part” (5, 6)

As we have seen in the reflection above, there is a lot to say about what prayer is, what its role is, and its forms. And today, Jesus uses a parable to highlight a few further details to bear in mind about prayer. He uses the parable of a poor widow in a certain town, who appeals to a local authority, a judge, who “fears no man, or God” to stand up against her adversary. Although the judge is a corrupt power monger who cares nothing about the plight of the poor, he obliges at the widow’s insistence. Why? Because she keeps coming back and “bothering” him, and, with the Greek word that Jesus used in this parable, “hypōpiazē,” which means to “wear out,” harass, subdue, rough treat, and lietrally, “to strike under the eye,” and “to beat black and blue.” (7) The judge is intimidated by the persistent aggressive demands of the woman. 

By using a word from a boxing match, whereby the smaller but more persistent party eventually subdues the mightier one, Jesus uses irony to contrast this judge with God, the righteous judge. (8) What he is saying is that just like the widow, who was persistent, our prayer life needs to be not just casual, but a way of living. When we approach God with faith, we can be assured that His justice is never delayed. Even if in human chronological time we may not see results, God is faithful to His promises and brings them to completion at the appointed time (which is in God’s time, called “Chairos”;9). 

The combination of faith and persistence helps us to recognize a harmony and a system in God’s plan, which unfolds in our chronological time with reference to the reality beyond, in eternity. Prayer is a powerful instrument because it links our every moment with eternity and connects human will with the Divine. When that happens, even though unknowingly, we are guided and sustained by the love of God, now and for eternity. 

God honors His family and friends. He is not going to send us away empty-handed, not because we bother Him, but because we are welcome. The gifts what we receive in the Spirit are what we can turn into concrete action. 

In his first Apostolic Exhortation, “Dilexit te,” Pope Loe XIV expands on an Apostolic Letter prepared by his predecessor, the late Pope Francis. (10) Containing a thoughtful reflection on Jesus who came down from heaven to assume the life of the poor, the suffering servant, Jesus’ love compels the Church to continue its tradition of reaching out to the poor, the suffering and the marginalized: “Through your work, you efforts to change unjust social structures or your simple, heartfelt gesture of closeness and support, the poor will come to realize that Jesus’ words  are addressed personally to each of them: ‘I have loved you’” (Rev 3:9).    

Prayer thus enables us to receive the graces we need to be God’s family, friends, and collaborators. It is our way of conversing with God which tells us about His love and sustains us in His grace and mercy. In summary, prayer is a key that opens, as it were, not the one-way door, but the two-way door, of heaven.

References: 

1. Global Disciples Canada (2022). Prayer, Fasting, and Intercession. Retrieved from: https://www.globaldisciples.ca/blog/prayer-fasting/?gad_source
2. Cardinal Schőnborn, C. (2025). The rhythm is important in the rosary. Meditation. October 14, 2025. Retrieved from: Kardinal Christoph Schőnborn Facebook Page, October 14, 2025. Accessed: October 15, 2025.
3. Pope Francis (2022). Pope at Angelus: prayer is the key that opens our heart to the Lord. The Vatican. Archdiocese of Malta. Retrieved from: https://church.mt/pope-at-angelus-prayer-is-the-key-that-opens-our-heart-to-the-lord/ Accessed: October 15, 2025.
4. Huynh, G., Rashid, M., & Foulds, J. L. (2023). Miracles in medicine: A narrative inquiry exploring extraordinary events in pediatrics. Health Sci Rep. 2023 Nov 8;6(11); e1623. Doi: 10.1002/hsr2.1623. Retrieved from: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Accessed: October 15, 2025.
5. Romero, D. (2022). Catholic 101: What is prayer? How do I pray? Retrieved from: www.thejesuitpost.org. Accessed: October 15, 2025. 
6. Catechism of the Catholic Church (2025). CCC 2559, 2725. Retrieved from: www.catholicculture.org. Accessed: October 15, 2025.
7. La Sainte Bible (2025). Strong’s Greek Lexicon. Hypōpiazō, meaning. https://saintebible.com. Accessed: October 15, 2025. 
8. Lane, T. (1997-2025). Parable of the Persistent Widow: Persevere in Prayer. Retrieved from: www.frtommylane.com. Accessed: October 15, 2025.
9. Mathias, A. (2011). Chronos and Chairos: Time and God’s Time. Retrieved from: animathias.com. Accessed: October 15, 2025. 
10. Pope Leo XIV (2025). Apostolic Exhortation Dilexit te of the Holy Father Leo XIV to all Christians on Love for the Poor. The Holy See. Retrieved from: www.vatican.va. Accessed: October 15, 2025.