Luke 18. Local Priest says the Widow represents God.

And he spoke also a parable to them, that we ought always to pray, and not to faint, Saying: There was a judge in a certain city, who feared not God, nor regarded man. And there was a certain widow in that city, and she came to him, saying: Avenge me of my adversary. And he would not for a long time. But afterwards he said within himself: Although I fear not God, nor regard man, Yet because this widow is troublesome to me, I will avenge her, lest continually coming she weary me.

And the Lord said: Hear what the unjust judge saith. And will not God revenge his elect who cry to him day and night: and will he have patience in their regard? I say to you, that he will quickly revenge them. But yet the Son of man, when he cometh, shall he find, think you, faith on earth?

At the 7:30 a.m. Lil' Licit Liturgy in St. Therese de Lesieux in Wellington, Florida, Rev. Father Steven Olds * explained to us that the Widow in Luke represents God.

And men wonder why there is such confusion within Catholicism. 

Well, just look at what is being preached during the Holocaust ** and what is being taught at Florida's Regional Seminary.

For the truth, let's turn to the great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide:

A1legorically

, S. Augustine (Lib. ii. Quæst. Evangel. qu. 45), says, “The widow is the Church, which seems desolate until her bridegroom Christ, who now bears her griefs in secret, return from heaven to judgment.” 

In trope

, “The widow,” says Theophylact, “is the soul which has put away her former husband. He was hostile to her because she came to God. God is a judge Who fears no one, and regards not the persons of men. The widow represents every soul that is desolate and afflicted, and who prays to the judge, that is God, to be delivered from her adversary. But because it is incongruous to compare God to the unjust and wicked judge, as Euthymius rightly says, from S. Chrysostom, we should rather say that it is Christ who is here spoken of; and not in comparison but as concluding from the less to the greater. That is: If the unjust judge were overcome by the importunity of the widow to change injustice into justice, and give her her rights, how much rather should God do this, who is most just, nay who is justice itself, punishing all injustice?” 

So S. Augustine above—S. Chrysostom and Theophylact—as will be clearly shown on verse 7. 

Vers. 6, 7.—And the Lord said, hear what the, &c. “God,” says Theophylact, “is the leader, the judge and the vindicator of all righteousness.” So David on Psalm xxxiv. 17, “The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth.” The Arabic has, “Hear what the unjust judge said; and shall not God more rightly avenge His own elect who cry to Him day and night?” So Ecclus. xxxv. 21, 22; Rev. vi. 9, 10, where the souls of the slain for Christ cry to God demanding vengeance. They hear from Him that they must rest yet a little while until the number of their fellow servants is completed. See what I have commented on the place. 

Morally. 

Behold how great is the dignity, the need, and the power of prayer. The need, that by it we may be delivered from all the temptations and tribulations by which we are every where, and always, surrounded. The dignity, because by means of prayer we converse with God, as do the angels. The power, because by it we overcome all adversities and hardships. “To pray always,” says S. Chrysostom (Book ii. of Prayer) “is the work of angels, who, wholly intent upon God, teach us while we pray to forget our human nature, and to have no regard to things present, but to conceive of ourselves as standing in the midst of angels, and performing the same sacrifice with them.” He adds, “Satan does not venture to come too near to a soul fortified by prayer, for he fears the strength and fortitude which prayer confers. Prayer supports the soul more than food supports the body.” And (Book i.), “As the sun gives light to the body, so does prayer to the soul. If it be a loss to a blind man not to see the sun, how much greater a loss is it to a Christian not to pray assiduously, nor to introduce the light of Christ into his soul by prayer! By it we attain to this end, that we cease to be mortal and of time. By nature we are mortal, but by pray and our life with God, we pass to the life immortal. For it is inevitable that he who holds communion with God, should come out superior to death and to all that is subject to corruption.” 

Ver. 8.—When the Son of man cometh. He comes to the universal judgment, when He will deliver His elect, whom He ordered to be always ready and eager; and to await that day patiently, preparing themselves for it by prayer and good works. For that day will be sudden and unexpected like lightning, as He Himself has said (chap. xvii. 24). 

Christ gives the reason why we should always pray, and persevere in prayer; because from His long absence, faith will fail even in many who believe, so that they will either lose all faith or believe very feebly, scarcely thinking that He will return at all. Secondly, Christ here gives the reason, why many are not heard in prayer. Their faith begins to fail and they do not continue steadfast in prayer, nor await the coming of the Lord with patience as they ought. 

Thirdly, Theophylact says, “He rightly connected His words on prayer with those on faith, for the base and foundation of all prayer is faith. He declared at the same time that few would pray, for faith would be found in few.” 

Christ says this to add a fresh incentive to unceasing prayer, for by degrees faith is failing more and more, and offences and persecutions are therefore increasing. 

Shall He find faith—perfect faith, that is; faith formed by certain confidence (fiducia) and love. “This,” says S. Augustine (tract xxxvi), “is scarcely found on earth, for the Church of the faithful is full of imperfect faith, and is, as it were, half dead.” Christ Himself explains it so, S. Matt. xxiv. 12. 

This will happen more especially; at the end of the world before the coming of Christ to judgment, when men shall eat and drink themselves over to pleasure and think not of the judgment, as Christ said, chap. xvii. 27; and S. Peter, 2 Pet. iii. 3. That is, Christians will deny that He is coming to judgment, even when that coming is near at hand (2 Peter iii. 4). As if they had said, “Nature has made the world: the same Nature continues its course in the same tenor, and always will continue it. There is no God to destroy it: no Deity to judge us and our works, and to punish them.” 

* Rev. Steven R. Olds

Professor of Systematic Theology

B.A., Oakland University, Rochester, MI

M.A., Mundelein College, Chicago, IL

S.T.L., S.T.D., Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome   http://www.svdp.edu/administrationfaculty

** http://thenesciencentnepenthene.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-holocaust-2_28.html


When the Trad, Ol' Mick, goes to the Lil' Licit Liturgy he feels like this;