Daily Gospel Reflection
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October 19, 2025
Jesus told his disciples a parable
about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary.
He said, “There was a judge in a certain town
who neither feared God nor respected any human being.
And a widow in that town used to come to him and say,
‘Render a just decision for me against my adversary.’
For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought,
‘While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being,
because this widow keeps bothering me
I shall deliver a just decision for her
lest she finally come and strike me.'”
The Lord said, “Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says.
Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones
who call out to him day and night?
Will he be slow to answer them?
I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.
But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
The idiom of “the squeaky wheel gets the grease” certainly seems to be true for the widow whom Jesus speaks about in today’s parable. Despite her hopeless situation—her reality as a widow with no legal power, a judge known to be unfaithful and dishonest, and her history of rejection—she asks again anyway. She ultimately is granted the just decision she is seeking.
And yet, by comparing the dishonest judge to God, who listens, Jesus does more than remind his disciples of the merits of persistent prayer. He reminds us that who we have put our faith in does not answer prayer out of annoyance or impatience with our incessant asking, but out of delight and deep love for us.
Jesus gives us a clear command to pray without growing weary. I have to imagine that by the time the widow from today’s parable received her just decision, she had already become a familiar visitor and an indelible voice in this particular judge’s court. How much more would our heavenly Father delight in hearing from us as we await diagnoses, grieve loved ones, pray for our neighbors? When the Son of Man comes, will he find this faith in us on earth?
Prayer
Our Father, have you heard our cries? Have you heard our calls, our small voices, hoarse and tight? You tell us not to lose heart. Wash our hearts with grace so that we may trust your promise, so that our heavy hearts will not be lost in the night. You promise to send your justice, bright and burning. Will the Son of Man find faith on the earth? Give us this faith, O God. Quicken our hearts, spark and winnow our hope into a flame of love that expects your justice, and rejoices when it blossoms. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Isaac Jogues is the first American saint—he was martyred with two other missionaries near the Mohawk river in New York state in 1646.
Isaac was born in 1607 in Orleans, France, to a middle-class family. He received a good education, and at the age of 17 entered the Jesuit community. As he continued his education in theology, he was influenced by superiors and teachers who had served as missionaries among the indigenous people of New France—what is now Canada.
Jogues was allowed to shorten his studies to pursue his interest in becoming a missionary himself. He was ordained a priest in January of 1636 and was immediately sent to New France to live among the Huron and Algonquian tribes. He landed at a settlement on the shores of Lake Huron that fall, but fell sick along with many from the tribe. The people of the village blamed the missionaries for the sickness and threatened to kill them, but the illness subsided before they acted.
After several years at that outpost, Jogues and several others made forays deeper into the wilderness to reach other native tribes. During one of these journeys in 1642, a group of Mohawk warriors captured Jogues, two other missionaries, and a number of Christian Hurons who were accompanying them. They brought the Christians to a village on the Mohawk river, about 40 miles west of present-day Albany, New York. There they tortured and beat the missionaries and did worse to the Hurons. Jogues had his two index fingers severed, but survived.
Jogues was kept as a slave for some time until some Dutch traders found him and purchased his freedom. He made his way back to France where he visited his family, but his heart was still with the native people of New France. Within a few months, he was traveling back to resume missionary work there.
After a treaty brought peace with the Mohawks, Jogues went to live with them, but they were suspicious of the missionaries. When another epidemic broke out, the Mohawks blamed the newcomers—they killed Jogues and attacked his two companions on the next day.
Jogues and his companions were canonized in 1930 as the North American Martyrs—they included the two who died with him and four others who were killed during that general time. In Canada, their feast day falls on Sept. 26, and, in America, they are honored on Oct. 19.
St. Kateri Tekakwitha was born about ten years after Jogues died, in the same village where he gave his life for the faith.
St. Isaac Jogues and companions, as martyrs you planted the seeds of faith in North America—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Isaac Jogues is used with permission from Catholic Online. Last accessed October 4, 2024.