There is a novel set in a small village in Scotland. It was about an ex convict and the teenage sister that he was raising. He had gone to prison for a violent crime, but was released after seven years, when his parents died in a car accident and his sister was only fourteen. He had served most of his sentence and the prison officials were very pleased not just with his avoiding trouble, but with the fact that he had sincerely embraced religion. He was an ardent evangelical Christian. When he left prison to take care of his sister, he immediately joined a group of determined Christians. He had prayer meetings over his parents’ home, now his and his sister’s home. He took over his father’s job. He did his best to be loving and kind to his sister. It was all new to him, being both big brother and father, but he prayed for her and asked his prayer friends to continue to support him, to help him hold his hands up in prayer. She, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do either with his new found religious life or with his determination to get her to join him in prayer. She was going through a lot of her own problems. She felt he was domineering her. She knew how to get him upset. He panicked when she ran away from home, even though she was nearby at a girl friend’s house. She came back during one of his prayer meetings and kicked up a fuss when he told her to go to her room and stay there. She yelled and screamed from her room and was horrible, vulgar and obscene. He finally had enough, and went up to her room to try to reason with her. She got worst. He lost it. He hit her. Then he gave up. He went down to the prayer meeting and threw all his friends out of his house, literally and physically. He threw out his cross, bibles, etc. He decided that he was a violent man and God couldn’t help him. He gave up. When I saw that movie, I said, “I’ve been there. I know that feeling. The feeling that somehow or other, I am not that good. I will never be good enough.” I know the feeling that says, “I should just give up.” I know the temptation to forget what God did to the Amalekites when Moses refused to give up. Perhaps you have been there too. Perhaps you also know the temptation to give up and give in. Perhaps you also think that there are times you are too weak to continue the fight for the Lord, which is really the fight for yourself, for your own spiritual life. These are the times in our lives when we are the weakest. These are the times in our lives when it is the easiest for the forces of evil outside of us and within us to dominate us. These are the times in our lives when we need prayer more than ever. Today’s reading reassure us. Persist in prayer. A setback can lead to a strengthening, a knowledge of a new situation that needs to be avoided. A revelation that God is infinitely stronger than you are or than I am. He will not give up on me or on you. We can’t give up on ourselves. With the help of Aaron and Hur, Moses persevered in prayer and Joshua defeated the forces that were attacking the people of Israel. It was really God who defeated the Amalekites. Not Joshua. It is really God who will defeat our enemies, not us. We just need to keep praying, trusting and doing our part to put up the good fight. Our community, the Christian Community, is helping us hold up our hands in prayer. Jesus has told us to persevere in prayer, and he will defeat the Amalekites, in whatever shape they take when they attack us. That’s for sure! • AE
Schedule for the Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
St Dominic Catholic Church (San Antonio, TX)
Saturday October 15, 2022
3.30 p.m. Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confessional)
5.00 p.m. (English Mass @ Main Church)
Sunday October 16, 2022
7.30 a.m. Holy Mass (English Mass @ Main Church)
10.00 a.m. Holy Mass (English Mass @ Main Church)
3.00 p.m. Santa Misa en Español (iglesia principal)
XXIX Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario (Ciclo C)
Existen muchos libros sobre la oración. Están escritos por maestros espirituales de gran experiencia, creyentes que pasan muchas horas recogidos ante Dios. Son grandes orantes, capaces de estar en silencio contemplativo ante el Misterio. Su experiencia estimula y orienta la oración de no pocos creyentes. Sin embargo, hay otras muchas formas de orar que no aparecen en estos libros y que, sin duda, Dios escucha, entiende y acoge con amor. Es la oración de la mayoría, la que nace en los momentos de apuro o en las horas de alegría intensa. La oración de la gente sencilla, la oración de quienes ya no saben muy bien si creen o no. Oración humilde y pobre, nacida casi sin palabras desde lo hondo de la vida. La oración con minúscula. ¿Cómo no va a entender Dios las lágrimas de esa madre humillada y sola, abandonada por su esposo y agobiada por el cuidado de sus hijos, que pide fuerza y paciencia sin saber siquiera a quién dirige su petición? ¿Cómo no va escuchar el corazón afligido de ese enfermo, alejado hace ya muchos años de la práctica religiosa, que mientras es conducido a la sala de operaciones empieza a pensar en Dios sólo porque el miedo y la angustia le hacen agarrarse a lo que sea, incluso a ese Dios abandonado hace tiempo? ¿Cómo va a ser Dios indiferente ante el gesto de ese hombre que olvidó hace mucho las oraciones aprendidas de niño y que ahora sólo sabe encender una vela delante de una imagen de la santísima Virgen, mirarla con angustia y marcharse triste y apenado porque a su esposa le han pronosticado sólo unos meses de vida? ¿Cómo no va a acoger la alegría de esos jóvenes padres, bastantes despreocupados de la religión, pero que agradecen sorprendidos el regalo de su primer hijo? Cuando Jesús invita a orar sin desanimarse no está pensando probablemente en una oración profunda nacida del silencio interior y la contemplación. Nos está invitando a aliviar el peso o la dureza de la vida…. recordando que tenemos un Padre. Algunos lo hacen con palabras confiadas de creyente, otros con fórmulas repetidas durante siglos por muchas generaciones, otros desde un corazón que casi ha olvidado la fe. A todos escucha Dios con amor. A todos. De esto podemos estar seguros • AE
LA MEDITACION DE LA ESPOSA 