The widow and the orphan
30th Sunday A
Benemerenti
Mr Pat McEvoy
Mitchelstown
25 October 2026
My friends,
The advance in the support that people get through social welfare is tremendous. Those who are older will recall the very small pensions that people had to live on. Over the years, thanks to a more vibrant economy, benefits have been expanded to a wide cohort of people with needs due to disability or illness. Still, when the Budget comes ‘round, whatever increases are given are never considered enough. That sense of need has taken on greater weight because of the ‘cost of living’ increases.
All this reality goes to show is how fragile and precarious life continues to be for a large percentage of households. This current sense of threat that we experience has been worsened by the wreckless wars being pursued over the control of land and resources. The world is not blessed at this time by wise and prudent leadership that places the welfare of its peoples to the forefront of all decision making.
Thankfully, in Pope Leo XIV, the world has a voice of sanity and concern. He has made the need for peace-making the forefront of his mission to humanity. He has humbly but courageously embraced the call of the late Pope Francis in Fratelli Tutti, to view the diversity of humanity as one human family, equal in dignity, destined to find on this fragile planet, our common home. It’s an imperative from the earliest days of the Old Testament.
“Tell the Sons of Israel this: you must not molest the stranger or oppress him, for you lived as strangers in the land Egypt. You must not be harsh with the widow or with the orphan.” Exodus 22:20
These commendations of compassion as conveyed to Moses, have the character of the commandments. We will hear echoes of this divine compassion right through to the Gospel – to be merciful as your Father has been merciful.
The ways of the world can be harsh and unforgiving. Left to ourselves, it is the survival of the fittest. So much of our entertainment and drama speaks in praise of the winner, the victor, despite the cost to and suffering of so many. So many of the nations of the earth are ruled by autocrats, dictators, who rule at will by perverting the course of justice and due process, in the service of an elite.
It is little wonder then that there is so much strife, protest and anger in new generations as they tire of their powerlessness in the face of tyranny. A new upheaval seems imminent. A new strife and turmoil seem to be on the boil and once unleashed its consequences will be difficult to control.
In our own context, there are worrying signs of social fragmentation – the murders are more frequent, drug use is extensive, the housing shortage is a kind of powder keg, the extraordinary growth in demand for special need education and the as yet unpredictable impact of Artificial Intelligence combined to give us a feel that we are ‘on edge’ as a society.
We are prosperous as a nation but most unequal in the distribution of our resources. All the indicators are that we are becoming a divided and polarized society.
Making these observations is by way of pointing to the importance of our faith commitment – our love of God, our trust in the Lord Jesus and our hope rooted in the abiding gift of the Holy Spirit – the importance of that faith in the spiritual riches that are ours as a parish and community of prayer. That’s our anchor in turmoil.
In the face of global crises all of us feel powerless before so many perpetrators of evil. Yet, each one of us is called to be an instrument of grace for each other. The combined call of the Great Commandment is ours everyday – to love the Lord our God, with all our mind, heart and soul and our neighbour as ourselves. There is a stillness and serenity that comes to us who seek to live and love with such clear purpose.
