November 15, 2025
Saturday of the Thirty-second
Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 496
Reading
I
When peaceful
stillness compassed everything
and the night in its swift course was half spent,
Your all-powerful word, from heaven’s royal throne
bounded, a fierce warrior, into the doomed land,
bearing the sharp sword of your inexorable decree.
And as he alighted, he filled every place with death;
he still reached to heaven, while he stood upon the earth.
For all creation,
in its several kinds, was being made over anew,
serving its natural laws,
that your children might be preserved unharmed.
The cloud overshadowed their camp;
and out of what had before been water, dry land was seen emerging:
Out of the Red Sea an unimpeded road,
and a grassy plain out of the mighty flood.
Over this crossed the whole nation sheltered by your hand,
after they beheld stupendous wonders.
For they ranged about like horses,
and bounded about like lambs,
praising you, O Lord! their deliverer.
Responsorial
Psalm
R.
(5a) Remember the marvels the Lord has done!
or:
R. Alleluia.
Sing to him, sing his praise,
proclaim all his wondrous deeds.
Glory in his holy name;
rejoice, O hearts that seek the LORD!
R. Remember the marvels the Lord has done!
or:
R. Alleluia.
Then he struck every firstborn throughout their land,
the first fruits of all their manhood.
And he led them forth laden with silver and gold,
with not a weakling among their tribes.
R. Remember the marvels the Lord has done!
or:
R. Alleluia.
For he remembered his holy word
to his servant Abraham.
And he led forth his people with joy;
with shouts of joy, his chosen ones.
R. Remember the marvels the Lord has done!
or:
R. Alleluia.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
God has called us through the Gospel,
to possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
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?”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/111525.cfm
Commentary on Wisdom
18:14-16; 19:6-9
Our final reading from Wisdom. It is full of poetical
images, although underneath the beautiful language is the power of God that
brings both life and death. The context is the liberation of the Israelites
from their life of slavery in Egypt.
The reading opens with a beautiful image of “gentle [or
peaceful] silence” covering the world, which is in the darkness of night. Then
from God’s heavenly throne, his all-powerful Word “leaped from heaven”. This
sentence (up to just this point) is used during the Christmas liturgy to
express God’s entrance into our world through the Incarnation, made visible
through the birth of Jesus.
The end of the sentence, however, is omitted. The complete
phrase reads:
…your all-powerful word leaped from heaven, from the
royal throne into the midst of the land that was doomed…
In this context, it is a different “word” that is being
spoken of. It is the ‘word’ as the one who carries out God’s judgement on a
sinful world. In this case, it is the sinful world of the Pharaoh’s Egypt which
will not let the Israelites leave the country.
In the Book of Exodus, the massacre of the first-born,
attributed to God himself and accompanied by the Destroying Angel, here in
Wisdom becomes the work of the divine Word. The Word had already been
represented as executing God’s sentences by, among others, Isaiah. This
dramatic passage draws its inspiration from a verse in 1 Chronicles and
possibly also from Homer (Iliad IV). In apocalyptic terms, the Word of
Judgement prefigures, not the Incarnation of the Word in Jesus, but the
dreadful aspect of his Second Coming.
The massacre is then described when the Word of Judgement
carries out God’s clear command:
…a stern warrior carrying the sharp sword of your
authentic command, and stood and filled all things with death…
This refers to the slaying of the first-born of every
Egyptian family.
The author now moves on to the crossing of the Red Sea (the
Sea of Reeds) as the Israelites fled from the Pharaoh and his armies. The
author sees this action as part of a “whole creation…fashioned anew” as God
manipulates the very elements of nature in leading his people out into a new
world.
He describes the various wonders that took place when:
…the whole creation in its nature was fashioned anew,
complying with your commands…
To facilitate the crossing of the Red Sea, the natural
creation was re-organised or changed:
…so that your children might be kept unharmed.
In Genesis we see the elements brought into an ordered
creation. Here a similar phenomenon is now witnessed, but this time the
extraordinary behaviour of air, land and water violates the order established
by the Creator.
As a cloud, representing the protective presence of Yahweh
hovered over them, dry land appeared, where just previously there had been
water, and the sea became “an unhindered way”; stormy waves became a green
plain. A Hebrew midrash speaks, not only of abundant grass, but of fruit trees
lining the road opened through the waters. Later rabbinical tradition
enumerates ten miracles attending the crossing of the Red Sea.
Then, under the sheltering hand of God, the people crossed
in safety, mesmerised by the amazing prodigies they were seeing. No wonder they
were filled with joy and excitement:
For they ranged like horses and leaped like lambs,
praising you, O Lord, who delivered them.
Underlying the reading is that God brings liberation to
those who put their trust in him, but destruction to those who violate his way.
Jesus, too, as Simeon foretold in the Temple, would bring about both “the rise
and fall of many”.
Jesus can be a source of life for all who walk his Way of
Truth and Life or we can reject that Way, and opt for darkness and death:
Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does
not gather with me scatters. (Matt 12:30)
With Jesus, there is no half-way position, no fence-sitting,
no neutrality.
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Commentary on Luke
18:1-8
One of the attributes attributed to Luke’s Gospel is that
his is a ‘Gospel of Prayer’. We see Jesus praying in this Gospel more than in
the others and he gives more teaching about prayer. Urging perseverance, today:
Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always
and not to lose heart.
This is very much a theme in Paul’s letters (see Rom 1:9-10;
Rom 12:12; Eph 3:13; Eph 6:18; Col 1:3; 1 Thess 5:16-17; 2 Thess 1:11; 2 Thess
3:13; 2 Cor 4:1,16 and Gal 6:9).
The parable features a totally corrupt judge, who fears
neither God nor man. It also features a widow, probably the most powerless, the
most pitiful and least pitied of people in the society of that time. She has
lost her husband, re-marriage is likely out of the question, she has lost the
support of her own family and her husband’s family, and there is nothing
comparable to social welfare for her to lean on.
As far as a corrupt judge is concerned, she can be ignored.
She has neither power nor money (for bribing). But this widow is different—she
is persistent and will not give up. Eventually, the judge, for his sheer peace
of mind, settles in her favour.
If, Jesus concludes, a corrupt and ruthless judge can be
moved by the perseverance of a helpless widow, what kind of response can we
expect when we, his people, call out in our helplessness to our loving and
compassionate God?
I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them.
That is, he will give them what is rightfully due to them.
But asks Jesus, in a challenge which should make us sit up
and take notice:
…when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?
Times of persecution are on the way—they have already begun
as this Gospel is written—and some followers will give up under pressure. They
will not persevere in keeping close contact with God in prayer, so as to find
him and his peace in the midst of their sufferings.
It is easy to pray when things are going well. It is often
in times of pressure that we, too, give up praying when we need it most, when
our faith is really being put to the test. We have to pray constantly and consistently.
We should not be afraid to ask for what we believe we really need.
But then, if God is such a caring person, why should we have
to pray to him at all? We need to keep praying, not for his sake, but for our
own. By doing so, we maintain an awareness that:
I can do nothing on my own. (John 5:30)
As well, the more we pray, the closer we come to God. And as
we pray, what we ask for will gradually change. Ultimately what we want is what
we need. And what we need is to bring our thinking, our dreams, our ambitions
totally into line with God’s way of seeing things. The problem is, as Jesus
says at the end today, how many people will really be doing that when he comes
looking for us?
How often do I pray? How consistently do I ask? What do I
ask for? What do I really want? Do I distinguish between what I want and what I
really need? And do I really have that faith and trust in the loving providence
of my God?
There is another and very different interpretation of this
passage. When we read this parable about perseverance, we usually think of it
in these terms: God is the judge and we are the widow. This means we should
persevere in pestering God until our needs are met.
But what happens if we turn that around and say that we are
the judge and God is the widow? In some ways, this interpretation makes more
sense. We, like the judge, are basically unjust. Sometimes we, too, have no
fear of God; that is, we do not allow God to scare us into being good.
Similarly, like the judge we persist in refusing to listen
to the cries of the poor all around us. But God is the persistent widow who
will not go away. God keeps badgering us, refusing to accept as final our ‘No’
to love. God will persist until we render a just judgment, that is, until we
let the goodness out, until we learn to love.*
In Genesis, we are told we are made in the image and
likeness of God. Perhaps our prayer could be:
Dear God, Persevering One, help us to be more like you!
_______________________________________________
*This second interpretation of the parable comes from Sister
Melanie Svoboda SND, Review for Religious, Sept-Oct 1996.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/o1327g/
Saturday,
November 15, 2025
Ordinary Time
Opening prayer
God of power and mercy, protect us
from all harm. Give us freedom of spirit and health in mind and body to do your
work on earth.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who
lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Gospel reading - Luke 18:1-8
Jesus told a parable to His disciples
about the need to pray continually and never lose heart. There was a judge in a
certain town, who had neither fear of God nor respect for anyone In the same
town there was also a widow who kept on coming to him and saying, ‘"I want
justice from you against my enemy!"’ For a long time he refused, but at
last he said to himself, Even though I have neither fear of God nor respect for
any human person, I must give this widow her just rights is troublesome to me,
lest continually coming she weary me."
And the Lord said,
"You notice what the unjust judge has to say? Now, will not God see
justice done to His elect if they keep calling to Him day and night even though
He still delays to help them?
I promise you, He will see justice done to them, and done speedily.
But when the Son of man comes, will He find any faith on earth?
Reflection
•
Today’s Gospel presents an element which is very
dear to Luke: Prayer. This is the second time that Luke gives us the words of
Jesus to teach us to pray. The first time (Lk 11, 1-13), He taught us the Our
Father and, by means of comparisons and parables, He taught that we have to
pray continually, without getting tired. Now, this second time, (Lk 18,1-8), He
uses a parable taken from life to teach us insistence in prayer. It is the
parable of the widow who pestered the unscrupulous judge. The way He presents
the parable is very didactic. In the first place, Luke presents a brief
introduction which serves as the key for the reading. Afterwards, he narrates
the parable. Finally, Jesus Himself explains it.
•
Luke 18, 1: The introduction. Luke presents the
parable with the following phrase: “Then He told them a parable about the need
to pray continually and never lose heart". The recommendation “to pray
without losing heart” appears many times in the New Testament (1 Th 5, 17; Rm
12, 12; Ep 6, 18; etc), And it is a characteristic of the spirituality of the
first Christian communities.
•
Luke 18, 2-5: The parable. Then Jesus presents
two personages of real life: a judge who had no consideration for God and no
consideration for others, and a widow who struggles to obtain her rights from
the judge. The simple fact of indicating these two personages reveals the
critical conscience which He had regarding the society of His time. The parable
presents the poor people who struggle in the tribunal to obtain their rights.
The judge decides to pay attention to the widow and to do justice. The reason
is to free himself from the widow who is pestering him and to get rid of her.
This is an interesting reason. But the widow obtained what she wanted! This is
an example from daily life, which Jesus uses to teach us to pray.
•
Luke 18, 6-8: The application. Jesus applies the
parable: “You notice what the unjust judge has said. Now, will not God see justice
done to His elect if they keep calling to Him day and night even though He
still delays to help them? Will He make them wait long? I tell you He will see
justice done to them, and done speedily”. If it had not been Jesus, we would
not have had the courage to compare Jesus to an unjust judge! Nevertheless, at
the end, Jesus expresses a doubt: “When the Son of Man comes, will He find
faith on earth?” In other words, will we have the courage to wait and have
patience, even if God delays in doing what we ask him?
•
Jesus in prayer. The first Christians had an
image of Jesus in prayer, in permanent contact with the Father. In fact, the
life of Jesus was to do the will of the Father (Jn 5: 19). Jesus prayed very
much and insisted that His disciples also pray. T. Luke is the Evangelist who
gives us a great deal of information on the prayer life of Jesus. He presents
Jesus in constant prayer. The following are some moments in which Jesus appears
praying:
-
When He was twelve years old and goes to the
temple, to the House of the Father (Lk 2: 46-50).
-
He prays when He is baptized and assumes His
mission (Lk 3: 21).
-
At the beginning of the mission, He spends forty
days in the desert (Lk 4: 1-
2).
-
At ta time of temptation, He opposes the devil
with texts from Scripture (Lk
4: 3-12).
-
Jesus used to participate in the celebration in
the Synagogue on Saturday
(Lk 4: 16)
-
He seeks solitude in the desert to pray (Lk 5:
16; 9, 18).
-
Before choosing the twelve Apostles, He spends
the night in prayer (Lk 6:
12).
-
He prays before meals (Lk 9: 16; 24, 30).
-
(Lk 9: 18).
-
In a time of crises, He goes up to the mountain
and pray where he is transfigured. (Lk 9: 28).
-
When revealing the Gospel to little ones He
says: “Father, I thank you!” (Lk
10: 21)
-
In praying, He arouses in the Apostles the
desire to pray (Lk 11: 1).
-
He prays for Peter so that he does not lose his
faith (Lk 22: 32).
-
He celebrates the Paschal Supper with His
disciples (Lk 22: 7-14).
-
In the Garden of Olives, He prays, even when
sweating blood (Lk 22: 41-42).
-
In the anguish of the agony, He asks His friends
to pray with Him (Lk 22: 40.46).
-
At the moment when He was being nailed to the
Cross, He asks pardon for the murderers (Lk 23: 34).
-
At the hour of death, He says “Into your hands I
commend my spirit!” (Lk
23: 46; Ps 31: 6)
-
Jesus dies crying out with the cry of the poor
(Lk 23: 46).
•
This long list indicates everything which
follows. For Jesus, prayer is intimately linked to life, to concrete facts, and
to the decisions which He had to take. In order to be able to be faithful to
the project of the Father, He sought to remain alone with Him. He listened to
Him. In difficult and decisive moments in His life, Jesus recited Psalms. Just
as any devout Jew, He knew them by heart. The recitation of the Psalms did not
take away His creativity. Rather, Jesus Himself created a Psalm which He
transmitted to us: the Our Father. His life is a permanent prayer: “I always
seek the will of the one who sent me!” (Jn 5: 19.30) The Psalm applies to Him
when it says: “I am prayer!” (Ps 109: 4)
Personal questions
•
There are people who say that they do not know
how to pray, but they speak with God the whole day. Do you know such a person?
There are many ways which people express their devotion and pray today. What
are they?
•
What do these two parables teach us on prayer?
What do they teach me regarding the way of seeing life and persons?
Concluding prayer
How blessed is anyone who fears Yahweh, who delights in His
commandments!
His descendants shall be powerful on earth, the
race of the honest shall receive blessings. (Ps 112:1-2)
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