Luke 18:1-8

Wisdom 18:14-16; 19:6-9

Psalm 105:2-3, 36-37. 42-43

Luke 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?”

Opening Prayer: Lord God, I always need to sit in the school of prayer led by your Son. When I become prideful in my prayer, humble me! When I grow weary in prayer, strengthen me! When I forget you throughout the day, bring me back to you!

Encountering the Word of God

1. Pray Always and Without Becoming Weary: During the third part of his journey to Jerusalem, Jesus teaches his disciples about their life of prayer. The first teaching is about the need to pray continually. The second teaching is to pray with humility (Luke 18:9-14). Both teachings about prayer take place in the context of Jesus’ teaching about the coming of judgment, the arrival of the Kingdom, and the advent of the Son of Man. Prayer is conversation with God (CCC, 2559). Praying continually or always means being in communion and communication with God (CCC, 2565). In the parable, Jesus teaches us to pray without becoming weary. He wants us to persevere in prayer. This tireless fervor can come only from love. We need to unite our prayer to all our works and unite our good works to prayer (CCC, 2745). The parable invites us to see that if a corrupt judge will answer the continual prayer of a widow, then how much more will our Father in heaven, who is good, merciful, and just, answer our continual prayer. Just as the widow does not grow weary in her pursuit of justice, we should not grow weary as we request good things from God. From our point of view, it can seem like God is slow to answer. But Jesus tells us that this is not the case: The Father knows exactly what we need and when we need it.

2. The First Five Exodus Antitheses: In the third part of the Book of Wisdom, the author uses a series of seven antitheses to bring out how God uses created things to both punish the wicked and bless his faithful ones. Each antithesis is drawn from the Exodus story of Israel. The first antithesis contrasts the water that the people of Israel drank from the rock in the desert with the defiled Nile River of blood that they left behind in Egypt (Wisdom 11:1-14). The second antithesis alludes to the pagan worship of animals in Egypt. The Egyptians were tormented by a multitude of animals (plagues of frogs, gnats, flies, and locusts) because they worshipped animals. By contrast, the Lord provided the Israelites in the desert with delicious quail (see Wisdom 16:1-4). The third antithesis once again invokes the animals that harmed the Egyptians during the plagues and contrasts them with the bronze serpent that was an instrument of salvation for Israel (Wisdom 16:5-14). The bronze serpent had no magical power in itself, but it was God’s Word “which heals all men” (Wisdom 16:12). The fourth antithesis contrasts two phenomena that come from the sky: “the heaven-sent storms that plagued Egypt and the heaven-sent bread that blessed Israel” (Giszczak, Wisdom of Solomon, 163). The fifth antithesis contrasts the plague of darkness with the pillar of fire that guided Israel in the desert. All of these old Exodus antitheses are brought to fulfillment in the New Exodus: We have been given the water of the Spirit, the flesh of the Son of God, the saving blood from the cross, the Bread from Heaven, and the guiding Holy Spirit of fire.

3. Sixth and Seventh Exodus Antitheses: Today, we read the sixth and seventh Exodus Antitheses. The sixth contrasts the death of the Egyptian firstborn at the hand of the destroying angel on the first Passover with Israel’s deliverance from death through the mediation of the high priest Aaron (see Wisdom 18:5-25). The Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt (see Exodus 12:29). The author of Wisdom envisions God’s all-powerful Word leaping from heaven’s royal throne into Egypt. This divine Word wields the sharp sword of divine judgment against the Egyptians. The destroying messenger “links heaven and earth by bringing down divine wrath” (Giszczak, Wisdom of Solomon, 181). The seventh and final antithesis contrasts the watery destruction of the Egyptians with the miraculous salvation of the Israelites by means of the same Red Sea (Wisdom 19:1-9). When we contemplate the old Exodus, we need to discern how it applies to us, who are on the New Exodus with Jesus. The sixth antithesis teaches us that we are saved from death through the mediation of our eternal and merciful high priest, Jesus Christ. The seventh looks forward to the waters of the Sacrament of Baptism, which purifies us and saves us from eternal death. The waters of Baptism swallow up our sin, just like the Red Sea swallowed up Pharaoh’s army.

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, teach me to pray, to enter into deep conversation with you as a friend. Open my ears to hear your voice, open my eyes to see things as you do, and open my mind to embrace your word.

Living the Word of God: How is my life of prayer? Is it characterized by continuousness and tirelessness? Do I mark the beginning, middle, and end of each day with prayer? Do my thoughts and does my heart lift up to God throughout the day? Does my prayer fortify and sustain my good works of Christian hospitality and charity? Do I see prayer as a duty or as life-sustaining? What do I need to improve in my life of prayer?