Out of the 52 Sundays of the year, 34 are Sundays in Ordinary Time. When we reach these '34' weeks, we know that the Church's year is drawing to a close. During these final weeks, the Church focuses on what are called 'the Last Things': that is, those realities that we associate with the end of the world.

All that God has created is good. The first reading says that God loves all his creatures; otherwise he would not have made them. How then can we hate anything? The gospel brings before us a man who, according to the thinking of the time, was evil and despised.

Last Sunday's liturgy presented us with the importance of prayer and the need to persevere in prayer. In today's gospel reading we are presented with the right attitude towards prayer and the nature our prayer should take. This is seen in the parable Jesus gave of two men, a Pharisee and a tax collector who went up to the temple to pray. The Pharisee prayed from his heart proudly listing out all the good he has been doing. His prayer was directed to himself and not God. The Pharisee did not really go to pray he went to inform God about how good and righteous he was. He was rather singing his own praises (2 Cor 10:18). He was almost demanding God to admire and approve of him. At the end his prayer he was rejected.

The liturgy of today invites us to reflect on the enormous power in prayer to accomplish results and change events and situations that seem impossible. It emphasizes the need to persevere especially when it appears to be a delay in getting answers to our prayer. Therefore, to experience the power of prayer we must persevere in praying and never give up.

Deacon J. Michael Woiwode was ordained in October 2011 for the Diocese of Bismarck in North Dakota. There he served in the St. Leo Parish in Minot, North Dakota until he and his wife, Marionand their youngest daughter, Michaela, decided to move here to Lake Havasu City in 2015.

On Sunday, October 23rd he will be officially installed at the 10:30 am Mass as a deacon in the Diocese of Phoenix and assigned to Our Lady of the Lake Parish. Deacon Jim Trant will be here as representative from Bishop Olmsted’s Office for the installation. Please welcome Deacon J. Michael Woiwode to his ministry here. All are invited to join his installation at the 10:30 am Mass on October 23rd.

Today's readings focus on God's ability to heal. In our first reading, we see God cleansing Naaman of leprosy. Because of this cleansing, Naaman comes to recognize the God of Abraham as the one true God and commits himself to God. In today's gospel, we see Jesus heal ten lepers, one of them returns to Jesus, to show him his thanks and devotion. So Jesus tells him "stand up and go, your faith has saved you". Then the psalm show us that God's healing power is not limited to physical ailments. God's healing power extends to his power to save us. Through God's actions, he makes salvation known to us and heals us by revealing to us, his justice, kindness and faithfulness. Our second reading speaks to us of his spiritual healing. As a living God his words and actions are not chained down; they are available to everyone. Timothy also tells us that if we persevere with Jesus, we will reign with him, and if we accept Jesus, but at times are unfaithful to him, he still remains faithful to us.

The theme linking today’s three readings is faith. He dialogued and questioned God; Why do you let me see ruin; why must I look at misery? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife and clamorous discord.”(Hbk.1:2-3). The Lord tells the prophet to wait and to have faith (Hbk. 2:4). The faith which enables the righteous their confidence, believed in God’s justice and patience in awaiting their great reward. St. Paul quotes these words (Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11; Heb. 10:38) to confirm his teaching that humanity receives justification and supernatural life through faith in Christ Jesus.