29th Sunday 2025
Exodus 17: 8-13; 2Tim 3:14-4:2; Luke 18: 1-8
Perseverance—are you good at it? Do you have stickability? I ask because perseverance seems to lie at the heart of all our readings today. Moses perseveres in keeping his arms raised, with the help of Aaron and Hur, throughout the day, to enable the Israelites to defeat the Amalekites. Timothy is urged to persevere in studying the scriptures, in preaching and in teaching. Jesus tells the parable of the importunate widow and the unjust judge to encourage us to persevere in prayer, and ends by asking “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
I have a feeling that perseverance is in short supply today. That isn’t entirely people’s fault: it has much to do with the pace of change in our world. There are few, if any, jobs for life in our society. At one time, well within living memory, young people would begin a job or an apprenticeship upon leaving school, and remain in that same job until the end of their working life.
Generations would work in the same mill or factory, go down the same pit, sit in the same office. Around here, if your grandfather had worked at Storey’s or Williamson’s, so might your father, and so, in your turn, might you. Now Storey’s, Williamson’s, Lansil, Nelson’s Silk, Nelson’s Acetate, Gillow’s, have all vanished without trace, though some of their buildings have remained, either to be converted into small units, or to moulder away.
When I was in Sixth Form, I accompanied my father on a day trip to York arranged by the Lancaster and Morecambe Retail Confectioners, for a tour of the huge Rowntree’s factory, in the course of which we also met representatives of Rowntrees’ rivals, Terry’s of York. Rowntree’s and Terry’s are now names from the past, their factories, which once employed thousands, largely demolished. Their workers would, no doubt, have happily persevered in their jobs, as would steelworkers, dockers, carmakers, all manner of people in manufacturing, but those jobs no longer exist. Now even university staff face an uncertain future.
What about relationships? Do we find perseverance there? I would readily admit that, in the past, people—especially women—persevered in abusive marriages when it would have been better to leave in spite of financial difficulties or social stigma. Even taking such cases into account, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that there is sometimes an unwillingness to persevere in the face of difficulties which may be surmountable.
There is a similar situation in the priesthood and religious life. Here, I have to admit that I am hardly a shining example of perseverance. Four times I have had to resign appointments because of mental breakdown, though, by the grace of God, I have managed to cling on to priesthood itself.
Similarly, in matters of faith and the practice of faith, we see a reluctance to persevere. You who are here are something of a faithful remnant: so many of your contemporaries are nowhere to be seen. Forty years ago, my then parish priest commented “When people left the Church, they used to storm out in anger because of something which had happened (which may still be the case) but now they just tend to drift away”.
In more recent years, the child abuse scandals have contributed, but there are at least a couple of other factors. The Sunday Trading Laws and the tendency for children’s and youth football leagues to hold their fixtures on a Sunday morning have played their part. Even among practising Catholics, there may be a lack of perseverance in daily prayer, which can lead to a disconnect between what happens in church on a Sunday, and their life during the rest of the week.
So to Our Lord’s question “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?” Neither you nor I know the answer to that question, but we are aware that there is a widespread loss of even the notion of God. Only last week, I came across a Youtube post of Stevie Winwood singing that beautiful Easter hymn, translated from the French, “Now the green blade riseth”. Many of you will remember Stevie Winwood as the lead singer of the Spencer Davis Group, and will recall him belting out “Keep on Running” a song which has stood the test of time, as a teenager in early 1966. He is now 77 years old, and gives to “Now the Green Blade” a reverent and gentle treatment.
Before, in dismay, I stopped reading them, I found that all the comments on Mr. Winwood’s performance missed the point completely. People saw the hymn as praise of the environment, as an ode to nature, as reproducing the myth of John Barleycorn. Although the reference to the Resurrection of the Christ is as specific as can be, people simply failed to notice or to understand it.
“When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?” I do not know. Let us at least ensure that we play our part by our perseverance in prayer, in reception of the sacraments, in proclaiming the Gospel by word and example, whatever difficulties we may face.
