LEAVE THE FINAL JUDGMENT TO GOD
Saturday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time
My dear encountered couples:
Not always do judges grant the requests of those who petition them. People may appeal and re-appeal their cases, but in the end not all get the satisfaction they seek. Jesus says we will get what we seek if we pray and keep praying with faith to God our Father in heaven. For God is a just judge. But there is some-thing we must never forget. God is also a wise God, and loving. He will grant only what is good for us. Would we want it any other way?
Christmas is coming and children are already getting their lists ready. But will they get everything on their lists? Only what their parents can afford, and only what their parents judge will not harm their children. God might be able to afford anything and everything, but he will not give us what will harm us. Therefore, when we ask, as do our children, for things not good for us or for those we pray for, God is not going to grant our requests exactly as we might have in mind. But he will give us something. As parents substitute when their children ask for what is harmful to them, so likewise does God with his children.
We make a list and give it to God because we have faith in him. But if we have real faith, then we will trust him to check our lists, twice if necessary, and decide what is best for us.
The widow in today’s gospel got what she wanted from the judge because she drove him crazy. We will get more than we want from God, not by driving him crazy, but by praying with total confidence in his judgment. Pray often and believe you are receiving the best from God every day, for you are, even when the evidence seems to be to the contrary.
