Homily
for October 7, 2007
Liturgical Year C - Cycle I
27th Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. Andrew Moyo Topic:
Lord, Increase our Faith +
+ +
Without a doubt, faith is the dominant
theme this Sunday.
We hear about it in the first reading, in the celebrated line of
Habakkuk,
taken up again by St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans: "The just shall
live by faith" (1:17). In the
gospel reading, we have the disciples’ plea, “Lord, increase our Faith.”
Journeying with Jesus was not easy for the
apostles. Once, Jesus had rebuked them
for lack of faith and his teaching was becoming more and more difficult
for
them to understand. They surely needed faith so as to continue, their
journey
towards Jerusalem. So, on their own initiative, they ask Jesus to
increase
their faith. This word faith is used five times in
the book of Luke.
This is the unique reference that it comes from the mouth of the
disciples.
This is not the faith by which one decides whether one is Catholic or
Protestant, Christian or Muslim, but the faith by which one decides
whether one
is a believer or a nonbeliever, believer or atheist. A Scripture text
says:
"Those who come to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards
those who seek him" (Hebrews 11:6). This is the first step of faith,
without
it, we cannot take the other steps. As such faith is in God, is a gift.
Jesus Christ clearly
says, No-one can come to me unless he is drawn to me by my father who
is in
heaven. This gift of faith is however not static- it is not something
that once
achieved remains forever. Faith is
dynamic. Relationships with people are dynamic. So is also our
relationship
with God. We experience this in
marriage and other relationships
in our life. There is always some
movement and change. Our relationship with God is no different: over
time, we
experience similar adjustments and change. Sometimes God seems
extraordinarily
close and at other times further away. As we journey with the Lord in faith
we encounter
difficulties. We encounter oppressive darkness. There are, however,
very many
people who are assailed with doubts and anxieties about their faith.
Before
sickness and death, people are suddenly beset with worries and find
themselves
asking questions like: What if none of
this is true? Maybe God doesn’t exist?
In the first reading, Habbakuk, calls out: "O LORD, how long shall
I cry for help, and you will not listen? If God really loves us why do
terrible
things happen? Will I go to hell because I don’t fully believe in him? This darkness was experienced even by
the great saints in
the life of the church. Thus, Mother Teresa also found herself
afflicted by
this darkness. In one of her diaries, published before her
beatification, she
wrote, “There is so much contradiction
in my soul, such deep longing for God, so deep that it is painful, a
suffering
continual -- yet not wanted by God, repulsed, empty, no faith, no love,
no zeal
... Heaven means nothing to me, it looks like an empty Place.” It is a stage that comes and goes.
We should always know that at the end it
brings us consolation. All we need to do
is to pray and be patient. God never
leaves us. A frequently known
anecdote explains this very well. God takes care of us, he is concerned
about
our lives! A frequently cited anecdote
speaks of a man who had a dream. He saw two pairs of footprints that
had been
imprinted in the desert sand and understood that one pair of footprints
was his
and the other pair was that of Jesus, who was walking by his side. At a
certain
moment, one pair of footprints disappeared, and he understood that this
happened exactly at a difficult moment of his life. Then he complained
to
Christ, who left him alone in the moment of trial. "But, I was with
you!" replied Jesus. "How is it possible that you were with me, when
there was only one pair of footprints in the sand?" the man said.
"They were mine," replied Jesus. "In those moments, I carried
you on my shoulders." Let us remember this when we feel the
temptation to
complain to the Lord that he leaves us alone.
Like the disciples, let our prayer this week be, “Lord Increase
our Faith.”
Faith is deliberate
confidence in the character of God
whose ways you may not understand at the time.”
Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of
this faith is to see what you believe.”St Augustine
Faith is putting all your eggs in God's basket, and then
counting your blessings before they hatch.”Ramona C Carrroll.
According to the division of the
gospel of Luke, the
gospel passage we have just read falls within the travel narrative,
that is,
Jesus journey from Galilee to Jerusalem.
This narrative begins in Lk 9,51 “ When the days drew near for him to
be taken
up, he set his face to go Jerusalem.” The travel
narrative then ends with Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. One of the great themes that Jesus
talks
about in the travel narrative is discipleship.
They had had Jesus explain to them the cost of discipleship. The immediate context of the todays’
gospel, is Jesus
teaching about the need not be a cause of sin, “ Temptations to sin are
sure to
come, by woe to whom they come. It would be better from him if a
milestone,
were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea, than that he
should
cause one of these little ones to fall.” St. Paul
tells us about a serious problem he had to face in his life, which he
calls
"a thorn in my flesh." "Three times" -- that is, countless
times -- he says he prayed to the Lord to free him from it, and what
did the
Lord answer him? Let us read it together: "My grace is sufficient for
you,
for my power is made perfect in weakness."
From that day, he tells us, he even began to glory in his weaknesses,
persecutions and anxieties, to the point of being able to say: "When I
am
weak, then I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). We are not alone in our faith journey.
The faith of the
group can sustain us. Thus when we pray the creed, we say we believe
instead, I
believe. We are really helped and
sustained by the faith of the other members, especially our parents. My
mother’s faith sustains me a lot. The old who pray so persistently. If
you have
an old lady who prays for you in your life, love her, if you are one,
keep up
the prayers, candles and rosaries.