Optional Memorial of Saint Albert the Great, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
Will not God . . . secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them? Thus, Jesus challenges us after giving us the parable of the dishonest judge and the persistent widow. It is often far too easy, when we encounter difficulty and desolation in our lives and when God seems distant from us, for us to give up hope and to cease calling on the name of the Lord. If we give up hope, if we lose confidence in the saving will of God, then we go against the testimony of all of Scripture, which again and again tells the story of God’s faithfulness to his people. This is the story of Exodus, the story of the exile into Babylon and subsequent return, and ultimately the story of Jesus: God is faithful.
This is not to say that trusting in God’s fidelity will be easy, especially when appearances seem to say the contrary. In those moments, perhaps, we can take heart in knowing that Jesus himself has shared our experience, that he has gone even further into God-forsakenness in the mystery of his Passion and Death. For did he not cry out to the Father upon the Cross, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
If God finally answered the plea of his Son by raising him from the dead, then God will answer us, too, though we too must pass through death with Christ. Today, let us pray for the gift of faith to cry out with Christ when we are in need, that God may answer us as well.