Daily Catholic Lectio
Sat, 14 Nov 2026
XXXII Week in Ordinary Time
3 Jn 5-8. Lk 18:1-8
Prayer and Faith
Today’s Gospel has two parts. In the first, Jesus tells a parable to teach us that we should pray always and never lose heart. In the second, He expresses a concern: “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?” To teach perseverance in prayer, Jesus gives us the example of a widow who repeatedly approaches a judge and asks him to give her justice.
The judge is deliberately presented as a negative character. His attitude is wrong and his behaviour is unjust. He “neither fears God nor respects people.” Moreover, when the widow comes to him asking for justice, he does nothing for a long time. His way of thinking is distorted, and so is his way of acting.
In the time of Jesus, widows were especially vulnerable and often had to struggle to secure what was rightfully theirs. Against this background, the widow keeps returning to the judge, asking for justice. Eventually, because her persistence becomes troublesome to him, the judge gives her what she asks.
But Jesus says that God is not like this judge.
The point is not that God must be worn down by our prayers. The point is the contrast. If even an irresponsible and unjust judge can finally respond, how much more will God, who is good and just, listen to those who cry out to Him.
The widow has a right to justice, but that right is denied to her. Yet even a man without a sense of responsibility finally gives her what belongs to her.
God goes far beyond this. Even when we cannot claim anything as our right before Him, He listens to us with goodness and mercy. The goodness of God stands in complete contrast to the indifference of the unjust judge.
What drives the widow to persevere? It is faith.
She keeps going back because she believes that justice is still possible. Her persistence is born from hope.
That is why Jesus ends the parable with a deeper question: “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?”
This question is important. The problem is not simply whether we pray. The deeper question is whether we pray with faith.
Sometimes we pray once and become discouraged. Sometimes we ask God for something and quickly conclude that He has not heard us. Sometimes delay weakens our confidence. But the Gospel invites us to hold together two things: faith in the heart and perseverance in action.
When we pray, our attitude must be one of trust.
When we continue to pray, our action must be one of perseverance.
Faith says: “God hears me.”
Perseverance says: “I will not give up.”
The widow teaches us both.
So today Jesus asks us not only, “Do you pray?” but also, “Do you still believe when the answer is delayed?”
Prayer without faith becomes empty repetition.
Faith without perseverance becomes weak.
But prayer sustained by faith becomes a relationship of trust.
May we learn to pray without losing heart, and may the Lord find faith in us when He comes.
Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi
Archdiocese of Madurai
A Yesni Prays Initiative
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