October
2, 2016
27th
Sunday in Ordinary Time
Habakkuk
1:2-3; 2:2-4; 2 Tim 1:6-8, 13-14; Luke 17:5-10
The story is
told about a man who was selling his dog. The interested buyer wanted to know:
“Is he a dog that can be faithful to his master?” The seller replied:
“Guaranteed, sir. You see, I have sold him five times already, and he has come
back to me five times!”
In today’s
Gospel, the apostles said to Jesus, “Increase our faith!” The apostles must have
been aware of their tendency to have fears and doubts. And so in order that
they may remain faithful and loyal to Jesus their Master, they asked Jesus to
increase their faith. What do our readings for today tell us about a person
filled with faith? What kind of perspective does faith give to us?
Let
us reflect on this in three points:
A
PERSON OF FAITH WAITS FOR GOD’S RESPONSE TO ONE’S PRAYERS. I
believe we can all relate with the prayer of Habakkuk in the first
reading. When we bring our petitions to the Lord in prayer, it takes
some time for us to wait for the fulfillment of our wishes and dreams. This was
the experience of Habakkuk. He has long
been waiting for the Lord to answer his prayers. He said to the Lord: “Look
Lord, I have been praying for the protection and peace of the
Israelites, but what do I see around me? I see violence, destruction and
despair. These are the things I did not ask for in prayer. How come the more I
pray for peace, more violence takes place? When will you answer my prayer?”
What was God’s response to the lamentation of Habakkuk? God took this opportunity to teach Habakkuk
to have faith. God assured him, that time will come when Israelites will
experience peace and protection. A person of faith waits for God’s response to
his/her prayers. We have to wait. We need to have
faith in God. God will never fool us. We can trust him. We can depend on Him.
In God’s perfect timing, He will answer our prayers.
A
PERSON OF FAITH REMAINS FAITHFUL TO CHRIST IN THE MIDST OF SUFFERING. It
is easy to have faith in God when we don’t encounter problems in life. But when
sufferings and trials come, it is difficult to have faith in God. This is what
Paul reminds Timothy in the second reading. Paul is aware that Timothy will
have to face and endure challenges in fulfilling his role as a leader of a
Christian community. Paul advises him and also ourselves, “Be courageous and
remain faithful to Christ even in the midst of suffering.” Faith will not solve
the problems we encounter in life. But faith will strengthen us. Faith will give us the power to overcome the
difficulties we encounter in life.
A
PERSON OF FAITH REMAINS TO BE HUMBLE. Jesus says in the gospel that “if you
have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can say to the mulberry tree, ‘Be
uprooted and planted in the sea” and it would obey you.” This is a symbolic way
of telling us that wonders and miraculous things can be achieved by faith. But
it must be clear for us that these miraculous things happen not because of our
own doing but because of God. We cannot simply claim credit to ourselves and
say, “Look how powerful I am.” This is not faith. This is pride. This is a good reminder for us especially to
those who have many achievements in life.
Sometimes there is this tendency to think that they are a source of
power. But a person of faith is humble
enough to acknowledge that all of his/her achievements had its origin from God.
In this mass let
us pray for the grace of faith that we may patiently wait for God’s response to
our payers. May we hold on to our faith in the midst of suffering. And may the grace of faith teach us to be
humble. Amen.
