“SEEDS OF LIFE”
Sunday, 2nd October 2016.
Twenty Seventh Week of Ordinary Time
Hab 1:2-3; 2:2-4;
Ps 95: 1-2, 6-9;
2 Tim 1: 6-8, 13-14;
Lk 17: 5-10
PRAYING FOR FAITH!
The Bible never says that Abraham entered into a shrine to pray, and yet he is considered: Father of faith and a model of the man of prayer. His whole life is marked by prayer and faith; he initiated things only after he heard the word of the Lord; he took steps after having received from his God an indication of the way. His life is marked by a constant dialogue with the Lord. “The Lord said to Abram: go…then Abram departed” (Gen 12:1,4). “The word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision … and Abram said: Lord, what will you give me?” (Gen 15:1,2) “Then the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre and he bowed down to the ground” (Gen 18:1-3). “God put Abraham to the test … and Abraham answered: Here I am!” (Gen 22:1) This dialogue fueled the faith of Abraham; it prepared him to accept the will of God.
Prophet Habakkuk lived with many challenges to his faith. The injustices, abuses and deviations in the society seems to show that God is disinterested and doesn’t intervene. Habakkuk tries to understand what is happening and is not afraid to open a dispute with God. He has the courage to tell the Lord that he disagrees with him, that he does not understand his tolerance towards the wicked; he reminds him of his passive attitude and his silence; he dares to ask account of his way of governing the world and the events of history. After having exposed his and the people’s grievances, the prophet keeps silence. It is God’s turn to answer. God answers, He does not give any explanation; he only asks for unconditional trust. He understands the grievances of the prophet and of the people; he knows that they cannot understand the reasons of his tolerance. Nevertheless he assures that what is given today for him to see will one day appear clear to all.
In today’s second reading the Apostle Paul too speaks of faith. Timothy is asked to have faith and, through it, to exercise charity. The disciple is also urged to rekindle in faith, the gift of God that is in him through the laying on of Paul’s hands, the gift of Ordination, received so that he might carry out the apostolic ministry as a collaborator of Paul (2 Tim 1: 6).
“Faith” primarily means personal loyalty, personal commitment, fidelity, and the solidarity that comes from such faithfulness. That is, the apostles are not asking Jesus to increase their understanding or their intellectual agreement. They are asking Jesus to increase their loyalty to him. Jesus, without directly answering their prayer, has recourse to a paradoxical image to express the incredible vitality of faith. Just as a lever raises something far heavier than its own weight, so faith, even a crumb of faith, can do unthinkable, extraordinary things, such as uproot a great tree and plant it in the sea. Faith, that is, trusting in Christ, welcoming him, letting him transform us, following him to the very end makes humanly impossible things possible in every situation. Seeds are meant to be planted, so that even more lovely things can grow. When we plant the seeds of our faith they cause more faith to grow, and the acts of faith, which are God’s love, justice, and mercy. In this way we bring the love of God to the unloved and the unloving, God’s mercy to the merciless and to those who’ve known no mercy in their lives. We make God’s justice to grow in places rife with cruelty and violence, and in the hearts of those who are unjust. We cause faith itself to grow in the spirits of those who have never had faith, or who lost their faith long ago to tragedy or boredom. And in planting and cultivating the seeds of faith we find that our own faith grows, and that tasks like forgiving repeatedly anyone who repents become things we do with ease and grace, like the other parts of our lives to which we have devoted much practice: playing an instrument, playing a sport, crafting a letter, sketching a picture. Our faith is sufficient. We have the standing place to do and to be all that God needs.
Many events of our life are incomprehensible and illogical and seem to give reasons to doubt God’s presence in life. In these moments our faith is put to hard test and we would naturally cry out to the Lord and implore: “Listen to our prayer, hear our cries.” God always listens to our voice though it is difficult for us to perceive his voice. Prayer is that which opens our hearts, help us to renounce our longings, securities and plans and instead make us welcome God’s will in our life. Let us thus through prayer seek for a true and complete faith in God. Faith in the midst of suffering, faith to see the will of God be fulfilled in out lives.
Prayer: Lord Jesus increase our faith and make us Your faithful servants so that we may carry out Your mission and thus give witness to You. Amen.