29th Sunday of Ordinary Time [C]

 


29TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME [C]


We’ll begin by referencing a movie from the year 1944, The Uninvited. It has to do with a house that comes under new ownership. The new owners soon discover that the house is haunted. This naturally represents a source of distress for them: literally, an “uninvited” source of distress. How do they respond? Well, they don’t respond by running away. Their dog runs away. Their housekeeper runs away. But the owners decide that they need to see the situation through. It’s not a pleasant experience, being confronted by a ghost. Nevertheless, they feel as if they don’t have a choice. 


How does this apply to the Sunday readings? We’ll direct our primary focus upon the question posed by Jesus in Luke chapter eighteen. Does anybody have the nerve to answer his question? Apparently, no. Subsequently, the question hangs there, unanswered. Think of it as “hovering,” just as a ghost might hover. It’s a question that hovers—and it also has the capacity to haunt. When Jesus returns, what do you suppose he will find (LK 18:8)? Will he find a meaningful level of faith? Will he find any discernible level of virtue? 


If we choose to remain silent, it’s a silence that has everything to do with doubt. You have your doubts about the population in general. And for that matter, you also have doubts about your very own self. In effect, you’re being haunted. You hear the question that has been recorded by St. Luke…and it haunts you. As a result, what will be your course of action? Will you run away? Or will you borrow a page from the 1944 film mentioned previously? Perhaps you’ll decide that you have to see it through? If so, then what exactly will that mean? 


Seeing it through means that you need to commit yourself to the practice of prayer. What kind of prayer? In the Book of Exodus, it’s all about the subject of SUSTAINED prayer. Moses has been monitoring a prolonged struggle. He’s too old to step in and fight, personally. In which case, he makes his contribution by praying. Note however, that he’s not simply “saying a prayer.”  That’s not how he is being depicted in Exodus 17:8-13. This amounts to more than just the recitation of a brief prayer. Rather, he has entered into a state of prolonged prayer. A prolonged ordeal calls for a prolonged commitment to prayer. 


Furthermore, if you are indeed seeing it through, then you will also have to depend on the words of Sacred Scripture. Paul has this to say about the word of God: it’s a resource that needs to be utilized—not just venerated, but actually utilized (2nd Tim. 3:14-17). Dedicate yourself to prayer. And, dedicate yourself to the scriptures. The practice of prayer will see you through. Additionally, it can be said that recourse to the Bible will see you through. Meanwhile, what about the new owners and their encounter with The Uninvited? How is it shaping up for them? Will they be able to see their way through?


Beware the spoiler alert: we are heading for a happy ending. By the end of the story, the owners will find that they are no longer being haunted. The haunting that afflicted them earlier, finally begins to subside. And as it turns out, you’re being faced with similar results: it’s not haunting you anymore, that question featured in Luke chapter eighteen. Why? You are paying attention to Moses. And you’re paying attention to St. Paul. Now, you truly understand the value of spending time in prayer and spending time in the word. It’s like this: why allow yourself to be haunted? Moreover, why allow yourself to be haunted…unnecessarily? 

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