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I have been blessed to be on the team that writes these scripture reflections for over ten years, so it stands to reason that every now and then I would be writing about the same group of readings as I had in the past.  This is one of those weeks, and I have to say that it is so true that you can read the same passage of scripture countless times and it can impact you in very different ways depending on what’s happening in the world and in your life.

In this week’s gospel, we have the parable of the unjust judge and the persistent (nagging) widow.  All this lady was looking for was justice and she was not going to stop until she got it.  I would like to compare her longing to the longing of the homeless, working poor, under privileged and less fortunate in our society today.  In my role at Immaculate Heart of Mary, I take incoming phone calls and emails from people who are in need of help.  Listening to their stories and how they got to where they are now can be heartbreaking.  It is often a stark reminder that your life can change, and not for the better, in the “blink of an eye”, and all your best laid plans go up in smoke.

Almost every morning as I am driving to work, I hear a story on the news about a person or family who have been forced out of their homes due to a spike in rent that they cannot afford.  From there, they seek affordable housing, which is in short supply, and when they cannot find that they are living in their car or a homeless shelter within a couple of months.   So, as a predominantly Christian society (I think I can say that), what are we doing about it?  What is our response to this growing crisis?  What is our answer to these persistent people who continue to ask for help?

Like the judge we hear about in the gospel today, I think a lot of us try to figure out what we can do that will make these people just go away.  The judge did not have much interest in finding out more about who this woman was, what her struggles were, and how it was that she had been mistreated.  He just wanted her gone.  Similarly, we often times are not interested in engaging with the street person who is in the same place every day begging for money.  It becomes easier to pass judgment on the person in line at the soup kitchen every day if we don’t know who they are.  We can wonder out loud why they don’t pull themselves together and start making something of their lives.  If we allow ourselves to actually get to know them, then we become invested at a level we would prefer not to be.  The question I am asking myself more frequently is “how much am I willing to step out of my own comfort zone to help someone else who I don’t know and am of whom I am a little leery?”  My honest answer is “not as much as I should be.”  

At the end of this week’s gospel, Jesus asks the question, “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”  I don’t think he’s wondering if he will find a whole lot of people who can recite the Creed.  If we profess to be people of faith, then it has to manifest itself in our actions.  Will he find people who worked tirelessly to help the poor, the widow, the orphan, the needy?  Will he find people who welcomed the immigrant and embraced the stranger?  Will he find people who upheld the other’s dignity, regardless of their station in life?  I will end by quoting a priest in our diocese who has said in more than one homily, “you will need a letter of reference from the poor to get into heaven”.

Mark Mahoney
Pastoral Associate