The Lord will guard you from all evil; he will guard your soul. (Psalm 121:7)
October 21, 2025
Hello Everyone –
“And a widow in that town used to come to him and say, ‘Render a just decision for me against my adversary.’” (Luke 18:3)
Only those who are or have been truly desperate can fully appreciate the situation of the poor widow depicted in the above-referenced passage from the Gospel of Luke. For the rest of us, calling out “day and night” is simply not our experience. It is, however, her faith that stands to challenge and invite our own faith to grow. The experience of the poor widow and others like her serve as what classical theology calls “motives of credibility.”
Some of the images of God that are presented in the sacred scriptures are startling, even shocking, if we stop to ponder them deeply and seriously. Who would dare compare God with an unjust judge who can ultimately be swayed to justice only by the nuisance created by a stubborn widow who presumably should know her place and stay there?
Jesus’ parable about the desperate woman has a realistic flavor. In a traditionally male-dominated society, she would have had little voice or influence if at all. In trying to get a judge to even look at her case, her only resource was sheer relentlessness. She would not let up. She would not be put off yet again.
“But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Jesus queries rhetorically as the parable concludes. Undoubtedly, the parable is about prayer. But it is more than just that. It is about faith — about a way of being in the world and recognizing one’s place in the world. It is about living and acting with the kind of intensity and passion that we encounter in the widow. Just knowing that such people exist can inspire and strengthen our own commitment to justice. Indeed, God listens to voices such as these — and so should we.
Betty Williams (1943-2020), the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize laureate from Northern Ireland provides us with one tremendously powerful example of someone who is prayerful in this way. She stands with hands outstretched before God and the world — voice raised before God and the world.
Williams bore testimony to how she witnessed the bombing death of children one afternoon. A little girl died in her arms. The force of the bomb had severed the girl’s legs and blown them across the street from where she cradled the bleeding, dying child. Williams left that horrific scene in shock and despair ultimately finding her way home.
Later that night, when the shock began to wear off, the full impact of what she had seen struck her. She stepped outside her door and screamed into the night. Shouting at both God and the world, she moved from house to house, pounding on doors that could easily have been opened with weapons pointing in her face. “What kind of people have we become, that children are blown to bits on our streets?” she howled. Within hours, the town was awake, and 16,000 signatures were on petitions for peace.
Betty Williams was one more poor widow making her case in a world that seems to have neither fear of God nor respect for humanity. Not much ever seems to change in our world. Tragic, isn’t it.
Mercifully, the words of Psalm 121 come to mind:
I raise my eyes toward the mountains. From whence shall come my help?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.
He will not allow your foot to slip; or your guardian to sleep. (Psalm 121:1-3)
As I do for you, please pray for me,
Most Reverend Jeffrey S. Grob
Archbishop of Milwaukee
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