The Godless

A Reflection on the First Reading for Sunday, September 22nd, 2024:
Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Wisdom
2.12, 17-20

​The godless say, “Let us lie in wait for the righteous one, who makes life inconvenient to us and opposes our actions; who reproaches us for sins against the law, and accuses us of sins against our training.

“Let us see if his words are true, and let us test what will happen at the end of his life; for if the righteous one is God’s son, God will help him, and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries.

“Let us test him with insult and torture, so that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. Let us condemn him to a shameful death, for, according to what he says, he will be protected.”

​Pause. Pray. Reflect.

Weirdly, the first thing that stuck out to me in this reading is the first two words: “The Godless.” I have always l heard the word godless and thought it referred to someone who doesn’t have God in them, but that cannot possibly be true! Every human being is created by God and is made in the image and likeness of God, so who are the godless? They are the ones who do not believe in God, do not live His commands or follow His ways. But make no mistake – God is in them and He is in you and He is in me! 

It is perhaps this very presence of God that leads these “godless” to act as they do in this reading. It is a conviction that perhaps they can prove the godly are liars and do not truly believe in God. That when push comes to shove, the godly will deny God and therefore justify the actions of these godless. 

As I write this reflection, my first response is to feel bad for these godless, to feel smug about my own faith. But the truth is that my faith is only as strong or as deep as my response to the next difficulty or tragedy in my life. My faith is not proven by the number of rosaries I pray or how long I can kneel before the Blessed Sacrament or whatever my new favourite devotion may be. Rather, my faith is proven in my response to difficulty and challenges; my response to the actions of “the godless.”

I have been striving to live my faith for about 40 years, and I have done many things to share this with others. But sometimes in the silence of prayer or thought, I have wondered, “Do I really believe?” When push comes to shove, will my faith persevere? Just over six months ago, my mother passed away. I am 56 and this was the first death of an immediate family member. Obviously, I am sad at her passing because I miss her, but I am sure my mother will be in heaven because of her faith and love of God. This is one of those events that, when I thought in the past about its coming, I wondered if I would believe when it came down to it. Would my grief bring up an opposing thought that God is terrible and has taken my mother from me? It is the grace of God and the path He has led me on that fills me with the joy of knowing my mother is at peace and is rejoicing in eternity and, God willing, I will see her again.

So, what does all this have to do with our reading? We will be tested by “the godless,” but we have been given the grace to persevere and to remember that what we hear in this reading is what Jesus experienced for each of us. 

In times of peace, pray to be prepared for the next test, the next challenge, so that when it comes you have armed yourself with the one thing that will get you through it: FAITH. 




Sister Teresa MacDonald

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