“Silent Protest” is a collage by Griffins Bakhuya of Kenya depicting a girl and newspaper clippings about gender violence.
Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
St. Isidore of Seville International Online Small Christian Community
October 19, 2025
Exodus 17:8-13; Psalm 121:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2; Luke 18:1-8
Maryknoll Fr. Joseph Healey works with small Christian communities in Africa and online. He invited members of one such community, the St. Isidore of Seville International Online Small Christian Community, with members in Ireland, Kenya, Tanzania and the United States, to write this week’s reflection.
Here is a personal witness story. I am 22-year-old Mary Wahome, born and raised in Kenya, and a faithful Catholic. In 2015, my mum passed away and I became the mother to my seven-year-old younger brother. In 2019, my dad also passed away. I became a total orphan — very young and inexperienced in life issues. My grandmother became my guardian. In my first year of high school, I was sent home for lack of school fees and was allowed to return thanks to the principal’s mercy. I enrolled in Kenyatta University in Nairobi where I earned my undergraduate degree in Gender and Development Studies. I would at times lack funds to pay for my housing. My grandmother always reminded me to persevere and said “God is father to the fatherless and mother to the motherless. God is the provider to those who do not have.”
My grandmother always encouraged me to trust and have faith in God. Prayer became my refuge. I would knock on God’s door seeking guidance and requesting what I needed. During the four college years, my leadership position in a small Christian community taught me to always seek God’s guidance and God will listen. Now I have a job and look forward to pursuing a Master’s degree and PhD, God willing. I am one of leaders of a prayer group called the Online Young Adult Seekers Small Christian Community. Just like the widow in Luke’s Gospel who was always at the judge’s door asking him to grant her justice, we should not give up in life. She teaches us persistence in prayer to face the challenges in life.
In the second reading Paul exhorts us to persist in sharing the Good News of our faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus teaches us that we must persevere in prayer. This perseverance in prayer is a key theme in Luke’s Gospel. God readily responds to those who persevere in prayer. As missionary disciples we must be attentive and persistent in our pursuit of justice that signals the coming of the Reign of God.
There is a story about a small group of people who were discussing what was the greatest disease in Eastern Africa. They agreed that it was not malaria or cancer or heart disease. It was corruption and tribalism (that is experienced in different ways and is similar to racism in Western countries). A clear challenge to African small Christian communities is found in the famous quotation from Justice in the World, the final document of the 1971 World Synod of Bishops: “Action on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the world fully appear to us as a constitutive dimension of preaching the Gospel or, in other words, of the Catholic Church’s mission for the redemption of the human race and its liberation from every oppressive situation.”
As an example, in June 2025, thousands of young people in Kenya went to the streets to protest against an unjust government tax bill which would have increased taxes on a broad range of everyday items. We have to fight against other injustices in Africa, such as unjust inheritance practices, female genital mutilation, and patriarchy.
Pope Leo’s Message for the 2025 World Mission Sunday on today Sunday, October 19, is entitled “Missionaries of Hope Among All Peoples.” The message calls all Catholics to be “messengers and builders of hope,” focusing on prayer, service to the poor, and sharing the Good News to counter the challenges and uncertainties during this 2025 Jubilee Year. The pope emphasizes that hope is central to the Christian mission and urges continued collaboration and walking together (synodality).
There is a Sukuma, Tanzania proverb, “The salesperson (seller or merchant) does not have only one door,” that promotes mission and evangelization. The missionary, the evangelist uses all doors, all means, all avenues for sharing the Gospel. For example, today we reach people with the Good News of Salvation using many means of communication: traditional means, mass media, internet, social media, even the proper use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The pope encourages us to be “bold and creative.” All Catholics, all laypeople and all small Christian community members have the missionary call to go out to proclaim the Good News starting in our own local neighborhoods.
Photo credit: “Silent Protest” by Griffins Bakhuya available via Wikimedia Commons CC BY 4.0