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From: Wisdom 18:14-16; 19:6-9

[14] For while gentle silence enveloped all things, and night in its swift course
was now half gone,

Passover Night

[15] Thy all-powerful word leaped from heaven, from the royal throne, into the
midst of the land that was doomed, a stern warrior [16] carrying the sharp
sword of thy authentic command, and stood and filled all things with death,
and touched heaven while standing on the earth.

The Crossing of the Red Sea (Continuation)

[6] For the whole creation in its nature was fashioned anew, complying with thy
commands, that thy children might be kept unharmed. [7] The cloud was seen
overshadowing the camp, and dry land emerging where water had stood before,
an unhindered way out of the Red, Sea, and a grassy plain out of the raging
waves, [8] where those protected by thy hand passed through as one nation,
after gazing on marvellous wonders. [9] For they ranged like horses, and leaped
like lambs, praising thee, 0 Lord, who didst deliver them.

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Commentary:

18:14-16. In these lovely verses, the sacred writer gives a poetic rendering of
God’s doings on the night of the Passover. They constitute an epic poem em-
bedded in the (also poetic) account of the escape from Egypt. It is easy to see
that this passage evokes the episode of the destroying angel who wreaked havoc
in Jerusalem in the time of David (1 Chron 21:15-22:1). The warrior-Word, descen-
ding from heaven, carries the sword that executes the irrevocable sentence. This
impressive scene may have had some influence on the description of the defeat
of the beast” in the book of Revelation (cf. Rev 19:11-21). In another sense, as
the personified Word that links heaven and earth (cf. v. 16), the tradition of the
Church applied these verses to the incarnation of our Lord, and the liturgy uses
them as the entranceantiphon for the Mass on the fourth day of the octave of
Christmas.

19:1-9. God is rich in mercy (cf. 2 Sam 24:14; Neh 9:19; Ps 119:156; Is 54:7;
etc.) and quick to forgive those who repent; but his mercy has its limits for those
who persist in doing evil. This happens in the case of the Egyptians who, after al-
lowing the Israelites to go, revert to their wicked policy and pursue them, thereby
ensuring their own defeat (vv. 1-4). The punishment that overtook them is not the
outcome of blind fate (”anagké”); on the contrary, it is “the fate they deserved”
(”axia anagké”). The miraculous nature of the events is underlined by the writer
when he says that their punishment for obstinacy in sin and God’s determination
to deliver the Israelites cause God to change the course of nature by acting with
a power similar to that which he showed when creating the world (v. 6). It is like
a retelling of the first account of creation in Genesis 1 in which the dry land emer-
ges from the waters and vegetation begins to appear (vv. 7-8). The underlying
idea is that the Exodus was a kind of new creation.

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

From: Luke 18:1-8

Persevering Prayer. Parable of the Unjust Judge

[1] And He (Jesus) told them a parable, to the effect that they ought always to
pray and not lose heart. [2] He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who
neither feared God nor regarded man; [3] and there was a widow in that city who
kept coming to him saying, Vindicate me against my adversary.’ [4] For a while
he refused; butafterward he said to himself, `Though I neither fear God nor regard
man, [5] yet because this widow bothers me, I will vindicate her, or she will wear
me out by her continual coming.’ [6] And the Lord said,”hear what the unrigh-
teous judge says. [7] And will not God vindicate His elect, who cry to Him day
and night? Will He delay long over them? [8] I tell you, He will vindicate them
speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

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Commentary:

1-8. The parable of the unjust judge is a very eloquent lesson about the
effectiveness of persevering, confident prayer. It also forms a conclusion to
Jesus’ teaching about watchfulness, contained in the previous verses (17:23-26).
Comparing God with a person like this makes the point even clearer: if even an
unjust judge ends up giving justice to the man who keeps on pleading his case,
how much more will God, who is infinitely just, and who is our Father, listen to
the persevering prayer of His children. God, in other words, gives justice to His
elect if they persist in seeking His help.

1. “They ought always to pray and not lose heart.” Why must we pray?

“1. We must pray first and foremost because we are believers.

“Prayer is in fact the recognition of our limitation and our dependence: we
come from God, we belong to God and we return to God! We cannot,
therefore, but abandon ourselves to Him, our Creator and Lord, with full and
complete confidence [...].

“Prayer, therefore, is first of all an act of intelligence, a feeling of humility and
gratitude, an attitude of trust and abandonment to Him who gave us life out of
love.

“Prayer is a mysterious but real dialogue with God, a dialogue of confidence
and love.

“2. We, however, are Christians, and therefore we must pray as Christians.

“For the Christian, in fact, prayer acquires a particular characteristic, which
completely changes its innermost nature and innermost value. The Christian
is a disciple of Jesus; he is one who really believes that Jesus is the Word
Incarnate, the Son of God who came among us on this earth.

“As a man, the life of Jesus was a continual prayer, a continual act of worship
and love of the Father and since the maximum expression of prayer is sacrifice,
the summit of Jesus’ prayer is the Sacrifice of the Cross, anticipated by the
Eucharist at the Last Supper and handed down by means of the Holy Mass
throughout the centuries.

“Therefore, the Christian knows that his prayer is that of Jesus; every prayer
of his starts from Jesus; it is He who prays in us, with us, for us. All those
who believe in God, pray; but the Christian prays in Jesus Christ: Christ is our
prayer!

“3. Finally, we must pray because we are frail and guilty.

“It must be humbly and realistically recognized that we are poor creatures,
confused in ideas, tempted by evil, frail and weak, in continual need of inner
strength and consolation. Prayer gives the strength for great ideas, to
maintain faith, charity, purity and generosity. Prayer gives the courage to
emerge from indifference and guilt, if unfortunately one has yielded to tempta-
tion and weakness. Prayer gives light to see and consider the events of one’s
own life and of history in the salvific perspective of God and eternity. Therefore,
do not stop praying! Let not a day pass without your having prayed a little!
Prayer is a duty, but it is also a great joy, because it is a dialogue with God
through Jesus Christ! Every Sunday, Holy Mass: if it is possible for you,
sometimes during the week. Every day, morning and evening prayers, and at
the most suitable moments!” (John Paul II, “Audience with Young People”, 14
March 1979).

8. Jesus combines His teaching about perseverance in prayer with a serious
warning about the need to remain firm in the faith: faith and prayer go hand in
hand. St. Augustine comments, “In order to pray, let us believe; and for our
faith not to weaken, let us pray. Faith causes prayer to grow, and when prayer
grows our faith is strengthened” (”Sermon”, 115).

Our Lord has promised His Church that it will remain true to its mission until the
end of time (cf. Matthew 28:20); the Church, therefore, cannot go off the path of
the true faith. But not everyone will remain faithful: some will turn their backs on
the faith of their own accord. This is the mystery which St. Paul describes as
the rebellion” (2 Thessalonians 2:3) and which Jesus Christ announces on other
occasions (cf. Matthew 24:12-13). In this way our Lord warns us, to help us
stay watchful and persevere in the faith and in prayer even though people around
us fall away.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.