TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

[cappie]

In New South Wales, as in the USA the railroad gauge – the distance between rails – is 4 feet, 8.5 inches or 1,435 mm. A strange number. Why was that gauge used? Because that’s how railroads were built in England, and English expatriates designed the railroads. But why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and they were using the tools and jigs that had been used to build carts and covered wagons. OK. Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Well, that was the space between the ruts in the English roads, ingrained through centuries of use. And the ruts in the roads? Roman chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match to avoid destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for imperial Rome, their wheel spacing was standardized. So, the standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an imperial Roman war chariot, and they were made just wide enough to accommodate the backsides of two war horses.

At one level, this story is laughable however, in a way, it’s good that the only progress we make is through building on the accomplishments and insights of others 

It is this same sentiment that Paul is reminding Timothy of in our New Testament reading today. Paul says, “ You must keep to what you have been taught and know to be true; remember who your teachers were.”  

Our rituals in church might seem arcane until we bother to take the time to trace their ancestry; then they can come alive in new ways. Unfortunately, tradition seems more often to be regarded in a negative light. For example, the phrase, “We’ve always done it this way” conjures up images of people who blindly and unthinkingly do the same things over and over and over again.

We are living in the midst of turbulent times in the church. The world is changing at a faster pace than any other time in human history, and we often struggle to make sense of it.  
Faced with manifold challenges, it is tempting for us in the church to market our services as self-help accessories to complement busy lifestyle choices. It is tempting not to demand too much of people, tempting for us to make church as convenient as possible, tempting for us to simply collude with a culture that flits like a butterfly from one shiny thing to another, and tempting for us to pander to the myth of instant gratification.

Tradition says; return to God in prayer. Return to your place of worship week after week Returning to the same place to prayer trains the body to pray. Our Catholic tradition of Sunday Mass, crossing the prayer threshold signals to the body it is time to pray and  is significant since there will be times in life when you cannot find the words to pray, a someone dies; life’s circumstances weigh you down.  Your body will lead your spirit in prayer when returning to the same place to pray.  Returning to God, church, and your prayer space at home allows the Holy Spirit to mould your body to pray, transforming you into a Christian who continually converses with God. 

Jesus uses the widow is his parable to model faith and prayer. Her only weapon is persistence. We as Christians cannot lose heart. We cannot give up even when prayers seem to go unanswered.  

The question that matters -- for the healing of our souls -- is stated in the last sentence of this Gospel passage: As he's arriving to help us, do we greet him with faith? Or is fear spinning our minds in such turmoil that we don't see him as he stands right next to us offering a helping hand?

If we're not living by faith, we inadvertently expand our problems. Are you feeling miserable after calling upon God for help? Look! Jesus is at your side begging for your trust. Are you feeling frustrated because God is not removing the obstacles you're facing? Look! Jesus wants you to follow him in a direction that's different than where you think you should go.