Wednesday 9 October 2019

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C 2019


The Gospel today is a continuation of last week. “Lord, increase our faith” is a genuine response of the Apostles. The Lord had told them to forgive unconditionally. And they were probably grappling with how to do it. Ordinarily, people are forgiving but to forgive unconditionally, like 7 X 77 times, it can take a toll on a person’s “stock” of forgiveness.

Therefore, to do what the Lord expects of us, we need the increase of faith the Apostles were asking for. What do we understand faith to be?

By way of catechesis, faith is both a gift and a response. It is a response that man makes to God who reveals and gives Himself to man. In that way, man submits both his intellect and will to God. In other words, it is trusting God who has revealed Himself in Sacred Scriptures through the Church. It is not enough to know God because the devils also know him. What they do not have is faith in God for that would be an act of the will. Faith in God requires that we choose Him and not just know about Him. In the end, we will be judge not by our knowledge of God but rather by our choice of Him.
It is easy to choose God when things are going well for us. When everything seems to be running smoothly, we may think that we have faith. But what happens when our faith is sorely tested. The first reading says that much. Habakkuk laments the silence of God. He cries to God who apparently does not intervene. Instead, God asks him to trust and to have faith. According to God, the just one, because of his faith, shall live.

Hence, the Apostles’ request that Jesus increase their faith makes a lot of sense. Why? For us, our faith largely has been tied to material well-being. Many examples. Some pray to God for success in business venture. Others are praying for a suitable job and hoping to get it. Parents or children pray for their loved one to be healed of a debilitating disease. Others are longing for the return of their lost one, like those who are still waiting for MH370 to be found.

Do not get this wrong. Asking from God is perfectly legitimate because He is Providence. But sadly, the notion that God is personal and caring has been defined narrowly by how far and how much He accedes to our requests. I am sure you may know of someone who has stayed away from Church because God did not answer his or her prayers. A simple explanation for this departure is that faith is not really an assent of the will to God but rather “faith”, as we understand it, has come to denote how much God is willing to assent to our requests.

This makes the latter part of the Gospel a huge challenge. Luke tells us that we must wait on God. Using the image of a Master and servant, no one should expect that being a servant is anymore than that. The servant does what he is paid to do, no matter how tired he or she is. This sounds rather harsh but the point is, just like the servant who has served, our response to God is to the trust without expecting any recompense. That is difficult since we are easily aggrieved or hurt. We have become hyper-sensitive and our feelings are easily wounded. More than that, we feel entitled which makes the Gospel sound rather offensive.

Faith in God will stretch all our resources. In case you have not noticed, it appears that those who trust God more are the ones who suffer most. This rubs against the grain of our materialist logic. There is a saying, “Friends with benefits”. Of course, it means something else if you Google-check the phrase. The point is that when we are friends, there has to be some benefits like expecting our friends not to stab us in the back. As the saying goes, “With friends like you, who needs enemies?”. Logic dictates that if we were God’s friends, surely, there must be benefits. 

But, saint after saint disabuses this logic. It does not follow that faith will shield us from troubles. St Teresa of Avila was on a mission somewhere near Burgos and there was a river they had to cross. She assured her companions that since they were engaged in God’s work, what better cause than to die in the Lord’s service. She bravely led the way across the river but the current was so strong that she lost her footing and was on the point of being carried away when the Lord sustained her. “Oh my Lord,” she exclaimed in her familiarity with God, “when will You cease from scattering obstacles in our paths”? “Do not complain, daughter”, Jesus answered, “for that is how I treat My friends”. Her reply? “No wonder Lord, you have so few friends!”.

Precisely, people are afraid to become friends of God for fear that God will send obstacles to test them. It is as if it does not pay to be His friend. The thing is this: God may have few friends but that is not because He treats them badly. It is more likely that when we become His friends, the devil will attempt to disrupt the friendship and make us lose faith in God. And furthermore, when things are going well for us, it does not always mean that God is blessing us. Look at how evil men flourish. Especially those who have sold their souls to the devil. Have noticed the key players in the previous administration and how they were rich beyond all expectations. I am quite certain that their riches were not divine in origin. What we may surmise is when evil men flourish, they fall within the category of God’s permissive will. We do not know why He allows it but trust that God knows what He is doing.[1] Alternatively, when things are not going well, it does not mean that God is cursing us. Like Job where God’s permissive will allowed the Devil to test him, so in our case, God allows our testing so that our friendship with Him can be purified.

As the Apostles found out, that life is tough, we should ask God for faith and like a plant we should nourish this faith. Praying and not giving up on prayer even if everything seems hopeless is one way of keeping our faith alive. It follows that adhering to one’s devotional practices is also a good thing to do. In other words, do not stop, even if you feel that what you have been doing is useless for that is truly an act of placing one’s trust in God.

The entitled victim in us, perhaps needs a kick in the rear to wake up our faith. For like Habakkuk, we are accustomed to complaining. We are pampered and like “Snowflakes”, generally melt under pressure to the point that we people disagree with us, we feel done to. The politics today is a politics of “hurt” and “taking offence”. Everyday, we read this race or that religion is offended. I have read somewhere that hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. Weak men create hard times. It is a vicious cycle and you can guess which stage we are right now. 

In summary, faith in God is resilience in a time of darkness and difficulties. Our Lady at the Annunciation has taught us this beautiful lesson when she said yes to God. She teaches us that faith does not make things easy. Faith only makes them possible. Trust in the Lord, in good times and in bad. And until the Lord opens the next door for you, as you wait, praise Him in the doorway.



[1] There seems to be a decoupling between wealth and blessing. As Matt 5:45 reminds us that “God causes His sun to rise upon the good and the bad, and He cause it to rain upon the just and the unjust”. If wealth is not a blessing, then, what is it? The key is found in Lk 12:48 “So then, of all to whom much has been given, much will be required. And of those to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be asked”. In the new covenant, wealth is more a responsibility than it is a blessing. If the Communion of Saints is to mean something, then the one “blessed” with more is to be responsible for more. Blessing is never for one’s own benefit but for the good of the communion.