Twenty-Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time – Year C
Persistence: What a curious quality to attach to prayer. Why do we need to be persistent?
Does God need to be reminded of what we need? Does He forget what He has promised?
Does our heavenly Father have selective hearing, as so many earthly fathers do? As a
teenager, sometimes I would go to speak to my father while he was reading the newspaper after dinner. He would look up, stare at me, even nod, but five minutes later have no recollection of what I had said. Yet, if I whispered a request to my mother to use the car, he would suddenly yell from two floors away, “Don’t let him have it, Marge!”
This Day in Province History: October 18, 1918
Fr. Daniel Fogarty died today, the last of the 5 friars who were victims of the influenza epidemic and who succumbed within a week’s time.
Augustine For Today
October 18 – SAINT LUKE, EVANGELIST
“Job was tempted in many ways but stayed steadfast in his patience. At first, he lost all his possessions. Then he was afflicted by the death of his sons. Next his body was attacked with pain from head to foot. He got little help from those closest to him. His wife spent her time cursing God and encouraging him to do the same, but he would not. The paradox is that Adam in paradise consented to temptation while Job on his dung heap held firm. To add insult to injury, friends came suggesting that his woes were because of some great sin. Job suffered in his flesh, and in his heart, he endured the pain of the accusations of his wife and friends. But, he did not give in. He scolded his foolish wife, taught his friends wisdom, and preserved his patience.”
On Patience, 11-12
