The nasty widow in this coming Sunday’s Gospel passage from St. Luke (18:1-8) is traditionally suggested as a model for a Christian prayer life. The persistent woman is envisioned pounding on a judge’s door and shaking her fist in his face until the threatened magistrate brings her case before a jury. St. Luke himself seems to encourage this image of a relentless dowager promoting her interests when he notes that the parable is about “the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary.” So persistence at prayer would seem to be the basic and certainly worthy theme of this tale about the judge’s aggressive client.
But the final line of this Sunday’s Gospel passage might suggest a second thought or two about St. Luke’s intentions and about Christ’s purposes. St. Luke concludes the Scriptural episode quoting some ominous words from the Master: “But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (18:8) What does finding a world with or without faith have to do with fidelity to personal prayer? The reference to faith seems very broad and universal and worldwide. “Will he find any faith on earth?” The parable’s instruction on prayer seems very personal and individual and even private. “Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night?”
To complicate matters even more, the actual and original Greek text from St. Luke reads, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find the faith on earth?” Note: “the faith.” So Jesus here might be worried about the loss of the entire deposit of faith, about the disappearance of all religious truth, about a totally secular society.
So what is today’s lesson to be: pray always? or keep the faith? Certainly the two goals are not in conflict. And in fact the twin pursuits would greatly support and robustly strengthen each other. The Church’s broader liturgy this Sunday actually gives worshippers a graphic hint about resolving any conflict between personal devotions and doctrinal fidelity.
The Book of Exodus in this week’s first reading narrates some drama from the Israelites’ war against Amalek, Esau’s grandson. The aging Moses has trouble encouraging his army with both his hands upraised, so his aides came to his rescue: “Meanwhile Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other, so that his hands remained steady till sunset. And Joshua mowed down Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.” (17:12-13) One hand only raised by the prophet would have meant failure; both hands raised in encouragement to the troops ensured a happy success. The Christian to be successful also needs both hands raised for the glory of God; the one hand begging the help of God in daily life, the other hand promoting the Gospel of Life to every creature.
Devotion to personal prayer and fidelity to the Church’s teachings can and should and, in fact, must work hand in hand in order to lead the believer to the fullness of the Christian life and in order to promote the Christian message to persons everywhere. Everyday Catholic life has long promoted morning and night prayers, quiet meditation, the recitation of the Rosary, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, grace at meals, observance of feasts and Holy Days, fasting and abstinence, reading the lives of the saints, lately the Liturgy of the Hours, and today the habit of Scripture reading. All of these pious devotions have enriched the Christian soul for centuries.
Right alongside these prayerful activities must be earnest efforts to deepen the believer’s understanding and appreciation of the basic truths of the faith. The several creeds of the Church such as the very early Apostles’ Creed that we memorized as children and the wider Nicene Creed that is recited every Sunday at Mass show that the fathers of the Church were as much concerned about right belief as they were about prayerful piety. The Church has had a long and sad history of schisms and heresies. But the Church has had a much prouder history of authentic teaching which the works of Augustine, Bernard, Aquinas, Teresa, Therese, and now John Henry Newman confirm. Yes, indeed, when Christ returns, will he still find the Catholic faith on the earth?
