Sunday October 16th: Passion and Persistence

“I must give this widow her just rights since she keeps pestering me.”

Luke 18:1-8

This weekend’s reading of the widow and the unjust judge reminds me of one of my ‘she-roes’ in the faith. I got to know Clarita about 20 years ago when I started working with her community. With her own little boy, along with other children in the area, she started a small Pre-school.

I watched over time as she steadfastly pursued her dream. Publicizing her project, raising funds, even at one time ‘squatting’ on the church premises. Eventually, one day out of the blue, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago started a system of pre-schools all over the country and she found steady employment. I could only imagine how tough it must have been in the years before.

The ‘wisdom’ in her story is that nothing precious comes without opposition. Life itself, along with the rest of the unbelieving world, must have seemed  like the ‘unjust judge’ who had neither fear of God nor respect for man. She heroically fought for her dream, kept hope alive, and kept coming to us saying ‘give me justice against my enemy’ and eventually, “life” had to give in.