My friends, Ordinary Time is beginning to wind down and within a few short weeks, the end of the Church Year will be upon us and the beginning of a new Church Year with the coming of Advent the end of November.  But before that happens, we will continue to be challenged to “be our best,” as we are today. 

   Let’s begin with the 1^st reading from the Old Testament Book of Exodus, which I think you maybe would agree, we could have skipped because of its theme of the Israelites waging war on their neighbors and the fact that our God appears to be supporting this action.  And upon reflection, we might be thinking that “this God” doesn’t sound like the God of our brother, Jesus, who in fact, we believe, becomes “the Christ,” Jesus that is – a God big enough for all, a God surpassing all religions. 

   Even so, exegetes tell us not to skip this 1^st reading, but to look deeper than just the surface story of humans going to war against each other.  And, in our own reality, we are aware of too much war and fighting in our world today, among the Israelites and the Palestinians – not yet fully settled, among the Ukrainians and the Russians, and we long for the ability among all these humans to seek after peace. 

   I mentioned exegetes telling us, “Not to skip this 1^st reading, and to “cut the people writing this story, a break” because they didn’t yet “know Jesus as we do, to show them the way.”  Thus, my friends, going deeper, the psalm refrain for today is a better, higher perhaps message to hold onto, “Our help is from God who made heaven and earth” – and that coupled with our knowledge of Jesus’ life among us, does more clearly, show us the way.  In other words, no matter what life brings, God will be there for us! 

   And this notion then moves us nicely into Paul’s letter to Timothy in the 2^nd reading, “preach the Word…stay with the task whether [it is] convenient or inconvenient…never losing patience.” 

   And finally, in Luke’s gospel, Jesus’ words are both an encouragement and a challenge, “[pray] always and [do not] lose heart,” – persist – persevere.  It seems that Jesus is saying, in the story of the unjust judge, “if a person who cares little can do good, how much more will our God do, for those who ask?” – this God who loves us beyond all imagining!

   So then, if we were looking for an overall theme in the readings, “persistence,” exegetes say should be the theme that unites all of the Scripture choices today. Along with persistence, perseverance is a quality we Christians should strive after.  While the two words are similar, perseverance is a “step up” in that it comes into play when what we strive to accomplish, like “justice for all,” becomes very difficult. 

   “Persistence,” is continuing an action consistently, for whatever purpose.  A recent article in the Winona Daily News about the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration who have been praying in Lacrosse, Wisconsin for 147 years all day and all night for the rest of us would be an example of persistence. 

   An example of “perseverance” would be the Monday night demonstrations in Winona, Minnesota asking for “justice for all,” in a climate that at times is quite depressing.  The postcard writers on every Thursday morning in Winona is also an example of this “perseverance” in troubling times. One could perhaps argue that the FSPAs in Lacrosse are not only persistent, but that they persevere in praying for all of us humans that we will one day strive more wholeheartedly toward being our best selves. 

   Along these lines, I would like to lift up Clarissa Pinkola Estes, author of Women Who Run With the Wolves, whom I consider her to be “a friend for the journey” even though I have never met her, because she was the 1^st woman writer that I discovered back 30 years ago in my own personal journey, who was putting into words what I had believed for so long about the equal natures of women and men, and that the voices of women were simply not being heard. 

   Clarissa names our perseverance to stay at a task until it is completed, especially when it is about, “justice for all,” “soul-showing.”  She has this to say about becoming “disappointed/discouraged” by the meanness, selfishness and greed that we may see in our world:

    “There will always be times when you feel discouraged.  I too have felt despair many times in my life, but I do not keep a chair for it.  I will not entertain it.  It is not allowed to eat from my plate.  The reason is this: In my uttermost bones, I know something, as do you.  It is that there can be no despair when you remember why you came to earth, who you serve, and who sent you here.  The good words we say and the good deeds we do are not ours.  They are the words and deeds of the One who brought us here.” I too,  often find myself feeling, very humbly, that the words I give you each week are not mine alone, but given me by the Spirit of our good God.

   My friends, I am not sure I could have said from my heart all that Clarissa Pinkola Estes said here from hers, but I know that I am mightily challenged by her words!  In that spirit then, in a world that needs each of us every day to persevere in good, truth and justice—basically, love, in broad strokes, I invite us all to consider these final words from her: “When a great ship is in harbor and moored, it is safe, there can be no doubt [and most of us want to be here – safe].

 “But [she says], that is not what great ships are built for!”  Perhaps when we are most discouraged, and we can’t see, as the psalmist says today, that “our God is with us,”  maybe the “gift we get” is simply the strength to “hold on,” doing the good we do. And friends, whatever good we can do is so very important – not just for us and the people we can help, but as an example to others to know they are not alone, and to do the same!  Amen? Amen!