“There was a judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected any human being.” (Lk 18:2)
And the judge really recognized his attitude. By contrast, there was a widow who kept asking him for justice: “Render a just decision for me against my adversary.” (Lk 18:3)

The Gospel today presents to us the attitude of the judge as someone who is fearless, yet capable of change because of fear. In spite of being hard-headed, he eventually did what the widow requested of him — for his own convenience.

Today’s Gospel helps us to look at ourselves both as judge and as widow. Sometimes we catch ourselves judging others. It is good that the needy — in this case, a widow — come into our lives to awaken us from our sleepiness, from forgetting God, or at least from not giving Him the quality time He deserves, and from ignoring the cry of the poor.

Let us stand for what we believe is the call of the Gospel — our balanced love for God and for human beings.


Palau, contrary to the judge, was a man who feared God and loved his neighbors — a true lover of the Church:

“Charity is the one making this union: man, loving God and neighbours, makes himself a body with his beloved and surrenders to her, and she in correspondence to the love, gives herself to the beloved.”
(MR 3, 11)

Today we celebrate World Mission Sunday with the motto: “Missionaries of Hope Among All Peoples.”
In the message that Pope Francis wrote for this occasion, he says:

“Missionaries of hope are men and women of prayer, for the person who hopes is a person who prays… Let us not forget that prayer is the primary missionary activity and, at the same time, the first strength of hope.”

Prayer, love, hope, and faith are all virtues that should mark our daily life as committed persons following the Gospel.