Readings: 3 Jn 5-8 / Lk 18:1-8
Today's gospel really teaches us an important lesson, I think, more about ourselves than about God.
It's not so much that that this unjust judge is an image of the Lord, but rather that this widow is a model for us of how we are to pray.
Our Lord, as he so often does, is showing us, like he says in another place in Luke's gospel, "If even you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, will not your Father in heaven, who is good, give good gifts to those who ask Him?"
If even this evil judge, who admits he has no respect for anybody, gives a good thing to this widow because of her persistence, how much more will our Lord give us everything we ask for and pray for according to His will when we pray with perseverance?
As we come to the end of our Healing the Whole Person retreat, I’d like to offer you a few tools or counsels to take away as you go back into your daily life.
How do we continue to receive healing from the Lord, to keep moving forward?
Number one—the most important thing—is desire.
Desire it.
Keep longing for it.
Let's not be satisfied with just a partial healing, a little bit of freedom, or a little taste.
We desire wholeness.
We want communion.
We want the fullness of what God is offering.
So continue to desire, continue to long.
Have your minds fixed on the vision that we received over this retreat of wholeness and communion and integration.
Keep praying, "Lord, grant me the fullness of what you want to give me. Bring me into the fullness of life."
Which brings us to the second thing: perseverance.
Perseverance and grit are obviously so necessary, but without desire, they're sort of useless.
I used to be a distance runner in high school and college.
Then I went to seminary, and now I look like this.
But I'm trying to get back into it little by little, one mile to two miles to three miles.
I can tell you, you need perseverance … but more importantly, you need the desire.
Without desire, you're not going to get anywhere.
Once you're a ways in to a run, then you need perseverance to keep on going.
So continue to have these two things in your hearts: desire for greater healing and the perseverance to carry it through, to keep on praying, keep offering your hearts to the Lord.
As we heard in this retreat, wherever there is communion with God, healing is certainly occurring.
The most important thing is to remain in communion.
Last night, we offered all these judgments, vows, lies, and all these things to the Lord.
Now these are truly offered up.
The Lord is taking them away from you.
But don't be surprised when the devil tries to bring them back into your life.
It's a bit like when the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt into the promised land.
He brought them into deliverance.
He said, "I'm giving you the land, but you must defend it. You can't cohabitate with all the pagan peoples. You've got to drive them out and keep defending the borders. Otherwise, the land will be lost."
Our enemy continues to attack us, and he knows the places where we are vulnerable.
So don't be surprised in a day or two—maybe tonight when you get home—your spouse says something, or your kids do something, or something comes up at work, and you find a familiar lie that you had renounced just returning to your consciousness.
You may find yourself moving back into a place of feeling abandoned or the orphan spirit or feeling rejected.
Just be aware of it and be prepared to renounce it in the name of Jesus and to move back into communion.
If you're like me, you might be thinking, "Does that mean I have to keep renouncing lies for the rest of my life? Is this just going to be my life forever?"
No, it's not forever.
The only thing that's forever is God's love for us.
But for now, be prepared to engage in the battle.
Healing requires a certain degree of just being willing to keep on fighting, renouncing, and receiving more.
The third thing is thanksgiving.
That's why we're offering this Mass today for thanksgiving.
We give thanks to God for all the graces He's already given.
Whether He gave you everything that you wanted when you came here, or you’re leaving with more questions than you had when you arrived, we give thanks to God…
Because I know every one of you has received something of the love of God on this retreat.
I certainly have.
And wherever the love of God is, there is freedom.
St. Teresa of Jesus, by the way, teaches us that the reason more souls don't receive a lot of graces from God is because of a lack of gratitude.
It’s not that God is being stingy, but gratitude disposes us to receive more.
When we open our hearts up in thanksgiving, then we're disposed—we're ready—to receive more from him.
So keep on giving thanks as he draws you into deeper communion.
Give thanks to him for the gifts of His love.
Lastly, as we're celebrating this Mass in honor of Our Lady, stay close to Mary and stay close to St. Joseph.
Pretty much all of us, I think, have wounds from our parents.
So Our Lord, in His great goodness, has given us a perfect mother and a perfect father.
We can always turn to them in any moments when we feel that we're in need of motherly consolation or care, whenever we're in need of fatherly counsel or strength.
We can always go to them with the little places of our hearts, and they will lead us to Jesus.
Dear friends, as I'm getting ready to go back to Oregon, know I will be carrying you in my heart.
My prayer for you is this prayer of St. John in our first reading:
Lord, please help them to continue their journey, always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
