32nd Week in Ord. Time, Saturday – 12th November 2022 — Gospel: Lk 18,1-8
Icon for Eschatological Justice
Luke introduces the character of the widow as someone who is going repeatedly to the judge for justice. Even in the Old Testament, majority of the contexts are legal in nature, either dealing with legal protection of the widow (justice) or the exploitation of her status (injustice). In the case of justice, the widows are not to be exploited (Ex 22,21-23; Deut 27,19); even then they were found victimized repeatedly (Is 1,23; 10,2; Eze 22,7; Mal 3,5). The prophets were the champions of exploited widows. Repentance began with redressing wrongs done to such unfortunate women (Is 1,17; Jer 7,6; 22,3; Zec 7,10). However, the Gospel text does not state the nature of her complaint, nor does it tell us why the judge refused to listen to her for a while. Luke presented her solely as model for prayer. Through her persistence she becomes an icon for eschatological justice in the Church, redressing the wrongs against the marginalized.
