Who You Know (Persistent Widow) (2022-10-16, Sunday-29)

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2022-10-16 –29th Sunday    ● ●  Exodus 17:8-13  ● Psalm 121 ●   2 Timothy 3:14-4:2 ●●  Luke 18:1-8 ● ●     Title: Persistent Widow / Who You Know

 [__01__]     Remember the old saying, it's not what you know, it's who you know.  Meaning: We, as people,  benefit more from personal connections (to people who can help us) than from our own intellectual knowledge.

          So … friendship and connections are important. But, how do you know if someone is a friend or ally?

          St. Augustine wrote that a friends is someone who will speak the truth to you, even bitterly and still love you. A foe is someone who flatters you and despises you. (Josef Pieper, Faith Hope Love, page 187)

          And, in Ephesians 4:15, St. Paul urges us to “speak the truth in love“

          Also, none of us can look on comfortably seeing someone choose what is convenient over what is actually good.  (Josef Pieper, Faith Hope Love, page 187)

[__02__]     Here is one example – publicly known example – where doing what was good was not convenient and was also a controversial solution to a difficult problem.

In 2018, the following incident happened in Thailand in southeast Asia. 12 young boys – who were on a Thai soccer team – went for a recreational expedition to a cave underground.  This is reported in the real-life documentary “Thirteen Lives” (Ron Howard).  The real-life events demonstrate what is possible with great perseverance and love. It was a very difficult rescue with local politicians involved and a not-very-clear solution. The experts eventually recommended – and succeeded in rescuing all 12 boys and their coach – by sedating them medically and carrying them through the waters and cave asleep.  It required great perseverance which is what we expect from experts and rescuers. It also required love…

 [__03__]     St. Augustine wrote that the reason you are called to love your neighbor is to teach your neighbor about the love of God.

          The widow of the parable demonstrates this connection between love of neighbor and love of God.

          We might wonder – regarding this widow – how she felt about so many rejections, so many failed attempts to secure her rights, how she felt about the person of the judge.

          Whatever her feelings were , they do neither deter nor distress her.

          Could we not say that the widow is living out the character of charity written of by Paul in 1^st Corinthians 13, i..e, the widow is “not inflated, not rude, not quick tempered, not brooding over injury but rejoicing  in the truth.”

          In Gospel terms, she is loving her enemy as though he is her neighbor.  Jesus said, “Love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you.”

 [__04__]     You and I are also called to the same love and prayer. Persevering. It’s not what you know it’s who you know. And we know the love of God in Jesus Christ.

          Do we not face difficult persons or circumstances from someone who does not give us what we want? This is what the persistent widow faces in the parable.

          Who is that person for you – a neighbor on your street, co-worker or boss, your child’s teacher, your relative or spouse..  

          In all these circumstances, I recommend you pray to your own Guardian Angela and to the Guardian Angel of the other person.

          We also can prepare ourselves for confrontations and encounters with difficult people by going to confession, it helps us to grow in trust and love of both neighbor and God, so that we can meet the other person with a  clear conscience, as we read in the 51^st psalm: “a humble contrite heart O God you will not spurn.”

 [__05__]      The widow of the parable – by her persistence teaches us about love of God and love of neighbor and teaches us to love the difficult person by praying for him or her. And to love God who is our helper.

          God is not the foe or adversary who will flatter us but really despises us. God is the friend who will speak the truth.

          St. Augustine’s point is that love of neighbor is the means by which we teach others to love God. It;’s not what you know, it’s who you know.

 

[__06_]     Here are 3 examples – 1 is my own, the other 2 were told to me. Love is about “who you know.” These are “1^st day of school examples.”

On my own 1^st day of high school, one of my classmates noticed that he and I were scheduled to attend all of the same classes. So, at the end of the 1^st day, he said to me, we are in class together, let’s be friends. I have never had such an explicit invitation to friendship. And, to this day, we are still friends. And I have also come to know his whole family well. That was a good 1^st day !

Another example, a boy I know goes off to his first day of school and he’s really worried upset, in distress. In fact, at times there are real tears and he is crying. Another child finds his behavior unacceptable and says to him, “You know, buddy, only babies cry!” That’s not a good 1^st day.

3^rd example, a different boy is also crying on his 1^st day. A classmate approaches him, confidently knowing – through his elder siblings – that the 1^st grade classroom has a nice aquarium with fish inside. He puts his arm around his weeping classmate and says, “You know there are goldfish and tropical fish in there…”

In which of these examples, is the person taught to love school?

By our own prayer, perseverance, petition, we are called to hear the word, not to give up, so that we can teach others to love God by whom we have been loved first. It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.  [__end__]