29th Sunday 2013
Our special guest today is Ismael Moreno Coto, a Jesuit priest from
Honduras popularly known as Padre Melo. He is the director of Radio
Progreso, a Christian-based radio station that is a national leader in
investigative reporting. Radio Progreso was shut down by the new
government at the time of the coup in 2009, and has suffered military
occupations since. He is also director of the Center for Reflection, Research,
and Communication (ERIC-SJ, the Spanish acronym), a think tank that
conducts research and education, and reports on societal trends and public
opinion in Honduras.
If Padre Melo were not with us today at our Liturgy and speaking of human
rights abuses in Honduras this afternoon, my preaching would have taken a
different direction. I would have spoken about the power of prayer, being
persistent in prayer even when we get weary. I would have said something
about needing the support of others to hold us up, as Aaron and Hur hold up
the arms of Moses when he grows weary.
But as I heard the gospel of the corrupt judge, I couldn’t help thinking of
Padre Melo’s experience in Honduras. Corruption on the part of those who
have been entrusted with justice and fairness seems to be the rule and not the
exception. When I visited the website for ERIC, I read some of the
investigative reports on corruption, especially in the legal system. In a report
entitled Decidimos no callarnos (We have decided not to be silent) we read
how groups of women have mobilized to confront a government and legal
system that does not address the wrongs committed against its people,
especially women. “A women dies violently every 16 hours in this country.
In addition to the pain of the loss of a loved one, the greater pain may be that
the perpetrators of such crimes go free. Nine out of ten crimes in Honduras
are never brought to the courts and resolved.”
And so the women have decided to speak out. Not to be silent. These women
are like the persistent widow in today’s scriptures, who cries out over and
over again against the corrupt judge who cares neither for God nor people.
She will not be silent. No se puede callar.
This woman who demands justice and a settlement for her case may be an
exception to the rule in Luke’s Gospel. According to systematic theologian,
Elizabeth Johnson in her book Truly Our Sister, women in Luke’s gospel are
usually voiceless. Except for Mary and Elizabeth in the stories surrounding
Jesus’ birth, “women are seen but not heard”:
Luke is interested in presenting this new religion in a pleasing,
non-alarming way to educated readers in the Roman Empire.
Hence, to defend it from the charge that it threatens society’s
patriarchal social conventions, Luke hands public leadership in
the church to men and tends to silence the women in his stories,
stifling their prophecy, diminishing their leadership, and casting
them in socially acceptable, obedient roles.
The Gospel story of Martha and Mary is a prime example. When Martha
speaks up, she is put down and Mary is praised for her silent obedience.
But today’s widow is an exception. She has a voice and she uses it. She will
not give up and her persistence ultimately pays off. Recently we witnessed
the power of a woman’s voice speaking up and speaking out on the Senate
floor. From the NY Times:
Frustrated with the lack of progress, Senator Susan Collins, a
Republican from Maine, quickly zipped out a three-point plan
that she thought both parties could live with, marched to the
Senate floor and dared her colleagues to come up with
something better. A few days later, two other Republican
female senators eagerly signed on.
Together the three women started a bipartisan group whose negotiating
framework formed the centerpiece of a tentative Senate deal nearing
completion Monday to reopen the federal government and avert a disastrous
default.
Let me ask you this morning: Who is the persistent widow who refuses to
be silent and pleads her case over and over? Who are the voices who cry out
for justice, not just for women but for men, women and children, immigrants
and refuges, victims of violence of all kinds? Padre Melo, despite threats
against his life, is one voice that will not be silenced in his country.
Who is the persistent widow? One of my preaching students suggested in
his homily this week that God is the persistent widow who will not stop
from asking us, pleading with us, praying that we will work for justice for all.
God as persistent widow? Hmm….