QUICK REFERENCE
- Date: October 19, 2025 (Note: Date will vary each year)
- Liturgical Season: 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
- Readings: Exodus 17:8-13 | Psalm 121 | 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2 | Luke 18:1-8
- Theme: Persistent prayer requires exhausting work, community support, and the counterintuitive choice to keep looking up when everything pulls our gaze down.
WHERE ARE WE?
In Exodus: Israel has just crossed the Red Sea (Exodus 14), received water from the rock at Massah/Meribah (Exodus 17:1-7), and now faces their first military test. This battle happens in the wilderness between Egypt and Mount Sinai, before the giving of the Law. They’re still learning what it means to be God’s people.
In the Liturgical Year: We’re in the last Sundays of Ordinary Time, approaching the end of Year C. The Church is drawing our attention to themes of persistence, readiness, and faithfulness as we move toward Christ the King Sunday and then Advent. Luke’s Gospel has been training us all year in what discipleship looks like – and now we’re being told: it looks like a widow who won’t give up and a leader whose arms grow heavy but stays lifted toward heaven.
LITURGY PLANNING
Symbols & Gestures:
- Raised hands/arms: Consider incorporating gesture during Prayer of the Faithful – inviting the assembly to physically lift their hands/eyes during certain petitions
- Supporting one another: Visual image of Aaron and Hur can inform how ministers position themselves, how community holds one another in prayer
- The staff/cross: Connection between Moses’ staff and the cross we lift up our eyes toward
Worship & Music Themes:
- Lifting up, looking up, raising hands to heaven
- Persistence, perseverance, endurance
- Community support, bearing one another’s burdens
- God as helper, guardian, shield
Flexibility Note: This Sunday’s readings are particularly powerful for communities facing prolonged difficulties – illness, conflict, grief, waiting. The message isn’t “try harder” but “keep looking up, and let your community hold you when you can’t get hold of yourself.” If your parish is experiencing collective exhaustion or discouragement, these readings offer profound permission to acknowledge the need for support and profound hope that God responds to persistent prayer.
FREE RESOURCES
- INTRODUCTION TEXT A simple summary of the readings that you are welcome to share with your congregation before the Liturgy of the Word. The link includes an explanation of where we are in the Bible this Sunday and reflections to help you craft a meaningful liturgy.
- PRAYER OF THE FAITHFUL Free to use intercession prayers aligning with the themes of the week.
- POST COMMUNION SENSORY PRAYER A short meditation to empower the embodied participation in the liturgy
You are welcome to use the resources for your liturgical and non-liturgical gatherings.
