This is the story of a woman alone in the world, like Naomi from the
book of Ruth; she has no men in her life, no husband to support her, and no
strong, able sons to take care of their mother in her old age. But this woman
has grown and learned to be independent. It was not an easy path to learn to
take care of herself and to find that she had a voice, but this old woman was
determined and persistent. I am speaking about the widow from today's gospel
reading. She was alone in a time when it was not good for anyone to be by
themselves, but a widow is someone who would be especially vulnerable.
Why the woman needs to be vindicated, liberated, redeemed by a just
verdict from this judge is never stated. But it is easy to see the importance
of the situation for the widow. This woman needs something she feels deserves
or is owed; perhaps a poor verdict and the widow will lose what little she has.
Like another parable in Luke, that one about the woman who had ten coins and
lost one of them, and would not rest until what was deservedly hers was in her
possession, and then she would be delivered from anguish and strife. The widow
in today's gospel story had no one to speak for her or take up her cause except
for herself and God. So she did what she could; she went to see the judge
herself and was not going to stop going, not going to stop asking, she was
going to ask again and again and again: until she received what was right and
just in her eyes and the eyes of God.
This is the story of another female, not an old widow, but a beautiful
baby girl born in about 1820, this little bundle of cuddle and coo was named
Araminta Ross; she was called "Minty" for short. "Minty"
was born on a prosperous and well-to-do farm in Maryland. On the estate was the
big house, and the inhabitants wanted for nothing. But from a very early age,
Araminta saw and understood that things weren't quite right in this paradise.
For you see, Araminta was on the farm; she was also born to the farm as an
enslaved person who later changed her name to Harriet Tubman. When Harriet was
five years old, she was rented out as a nursemaid to one of her owner's
neighbors, and every time the baby cried, Harriet got whipped. Harriet was
later rented out to catch rodents as a field hand. When Harriet was twelve, she
got her head split open from trying to help another enslaved person; the
effects of this injury would stay with her the rest of her life, and even while
all this was going on, Harriet never lost her faith in God. She prayed for
deliverance again and again and again.
In 1849 Harriet could take no more; as bad as life was, it could only
get worse; she felt it was worth risking her life running away than staying and
dying a slow death. With the help of the underground railway, she made it to
Pennsylvania and became a free woman. Harriet later said when she was free
that, she had to look at her hands and arms to see if she was the same person,
everything she looked at looked different to her, and she felt like she was in
heaven. But, in time, freedom was not enough for Harriet; she wanted others to
have that same experience. Harriet became a conductor on the underground
railway, bringing so many people to freedom she earned the title of Moses.
Harriet was known for having a sturdy, rugged, and robust faith in God, and in
prayer, many people who knew Harriet believed Harriet spoke to God, and God
spoke to Harriet, and they had frequent conversations, sometimes daily.
One of the people we are all familiar with from the Old Testament is
Joseph, the one with the amazing Technicolor dream coat given to him by his
father, Jacob. We know he wound up saving his own family and the nation of
Egypt and being second in power and rank only to the pharaoh. But that is how
Joseph's story turned out; Joseph's story started with being thrown into a pit
by his brothers; Joseph did not know why he was in this dark, dank hole in the
ground, how long he would be there, what would become of him or if he would
ever be free. So all he could do was pray. Joseph was brought out of the pit
and taken to Egypt, eventually wound up in prison for doing the morally right
thing. Still, this time he was away for years, waiting for deliverance, so he
prayed over and over with all his heart. Joseph was justified, delivered,
saved, and we know how his story ends.
So we have an old widow, a woman born enslaved, a man abandoned by his
family, and then the world. Slightly different, I would, but very similar, they
found themselves in dire situations that they could not control; they could
have just thrown up their hands and said, "Oh well, it's done." But
they did not. In the First Letter of Saint Paul to Timothy, we read,
"Fight the good fight of faith, take hold of the eternal life to which you
were called, and then make a good confession." Fighting the good fight
does not mean physically fighting; generally, it's more of an internal
struggle; we have to admit that some situations are beyond our control to turn
ourselves and our lives over to God.
In last Sunday's first reading, he heard of Naaman being cured of his
leprosy by plunging himself into the Jordan River seven times, and he was
healed. Then if you listened closely, Naaman wanted to take back to his home
country of Syria two loads of mud from the Jordan, so he could worship the God
who had cured him. Like many people of this age, Naaman worshiped local gods
who were attached to geographic areas, so Naaman thought the God of Israel
could only be near him if he had a piece of Israel with him.
In Deuteronomy, we read, "For what great nation is there that has
gods so close to it as the Lord our God, is to us whenever we call upon
Him." Joseph had the God of his fathers with him in prison in Egypt;
Harriet Tubman had the same God while she was enslaved in North America. So we
turn our lives: mental, physical, and spiritual, over to God, and we pray
persistently, ever mindful of God working in our lives. Is that it? Sometimes
yes, but we ourselves have to do what we can. We have to let God guide our
actions. The widow went to the judge and was going to keep going back as long
as she had to. Harriet escaped enslavement and then went back to free others.
Joseph, while in prison, did something challenging; he kept his spirits and
those around up; he would not let himself wallow in self-pity.
We have to keep praying. Like the old widow, we must keep asking. Which for some of us is an exercise in humility in itself, admitting there is something we cannot do by ourselves. Sometimes we don't get the exact outcome we desire, and sometimes, we have to wait (I could talk about that one), but those are all topics for other homilies. So fight the good fight, know that God is always near, and He wants to be part of our lives, do what we can and let God guide our actions, and never stop praying to God the old widow, Harriet Tubman Joseph, with his coat of many colors and the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob.
Photograph by Brother Brian. Father Stephen's homily at his First Mass.
