OMELIE / Omelie EN

16 ott 2022

16/10/2022 – 29th Sunday in O. T. - year C

16/10/2022 – 29th Sunday in O. T. - year C

Reading 1 EX 17,8-13 Psalm 120 Reading 2 2TM 3,14 - 4,2 Gospel LK 18,1-8

The Scriptures are a source of wisdom, a never-ending school for the believer. Saint Paul tells us in fact that it is “inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work”. Therefore, we do not have to become ever weary of listening to it, meditating on it, looking for it with burning desire of sucking it all in. It is the Scriptures which keep us steadfast in the faith in Jesus Christ, true and only saviour, the only promoter of the love which makes human life beautiful and worth living. It is not possible for a Christian to live without a constant reference to the Scriptures.

How precious it is, for example, the passage showing us Moses praying, sitting on the rock with his arms held up high by two men chosen among the most important. The people is living through a very difficult time, fought by powerful enemies. Moses, instead of grabbing a sword to help the people in the fight, holds the rod high, a symbol of his obedience to God and the power He has given him. He stays all day on the mountain in that position, with his hands stretched towards the sky. For the people, his effort makes clear that everything depends on God, even the results of everyone else’s effort.

We are impressed by this event: our efforts, the efforts we put in our fight against evil, any evil, which results will they achieve if there is no-one who is interceding, praying, and reminding us that everything depends on the Father’s love?

Our enemy is so powerful that he can overpower us at any moment. The hands stretched up of the people obedient to God, who live of the faith in Him, are our support, our certainty of being able to win every battle despite our weakness. Now that we have learnt how to pray from Jesus, we have been entrusted with the task to sit on the mountain with our hands raised. Our prayers and our obedience to God support the world which is at risk.

With the parable in the gospel, the Lord Himself is recommending us not to tire of addressing Him with our requests. Our insistence is not a sign of God’s weakness, but the declaration that we have nobody else in whom we can hope, and it is a sign that our faith is true trust. It is also the declaration we believe that God has wisdom to intervene and grant us what we ask in the best moment. Our prayer is expressing and showing the faith that God Himself would like to be present in every corner of earth.

“When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”. We can definitely answer with a good “yes”: yes, the faith will be there because I believe, I will continue to believe, and I will continue to pray, to keep my hands raised up with the help of the brethren, so the enemy of men will not prevail over the Church. I will support the brethren’s raised hands, and together we will support the world.

Listening to the Scriptures and praying, these are the supports of the world. As long as there are people who are keeping alive listening and praying we cannot and must not be in fear. I am not satisfied with knowing that there is someone who listens and someone who prays, I myself want to be a guardian and avid reader of the Scriptures and a producer of prayer, the prayer in which God can smell the aroma of love!