Habakkuk is not an ancient prophet. He could be classified as a “modern” one. He saw the injustice that existed during his lifetime. We too can notice the inequalities glaring back at us. Like us, Habbakuk cried out to a God who is seemingly silent and uncaring. But the Lord reminds him to have faith in the future and to continue living. Today’s prophets who fight can end up dispirited if they do not have faith that God will make right the situation that calls out for righteousness.
We are movers and shakers. We cannot sit still. In a way, we are keen to change the world for the better. It is a good attitude to have. Yet it might also lead to discouragement and disillusionment. Movers and shakers are performance-driven and also production-centred. In other words, we thrive on measurable results and count on successes. We have been bred to succeed and when we do not succeed, the result can be anxiety and depression.
Given that the organisation of the world we have is complex and knowledge about the universe is also immense there is a tendency to organise life through specialisation. The ever-increasing specialisation of knowledge has led to increasing fragmentation of our experience. With specialisation, we know more of less.
Sounds gibberish but take a look at our medical faculties. A doctor-friend told me that given his mother’s medical condition, it was a good thing that he himself is a doctor because specialisation has made the specialist an expert but he or she is often hampered by the lack of multi—disciplinary experiences. It made a wholistic diagnostic of his mother’s condition difficult. Does this sound familiar? And have you known of a person who had to be hospitalised but the doctors were unable to diagnose the condition? As a result, the person was subjected to a whole battery of tests and passed on from one specialist to another specialist.
The result of our inability to grasp the bigger picture and to solve a problem can create a sense of despair especially when we are unable to control our destiny.
If we are not the masters of our destiny, then who is? This is where Habakkuk comes in. His vision leads us along the path of trust and discipleship. We let God take charge and we keep faith with Him. Though we may be tempted by the need for results, what is best is to trust and have faith that God will come through for us.
Take a look at the Gospel. There are two themes inter-related. The first is how faith can do great wonders. What is faith? Remember the saying, “give God the best and not the rest”. For many of us, faith kicks in when we are helpless. God seems to be our fail-safe option and faith tends to be more like “I can do it first” rather than God is at the heart of all there is.
Perhaps the 2nd theme of Jesus in the Gospel on servanthood might be helpful. It is not about humility in service per se. Rather it is leaving all in the hands of God. It is a kind of attitude which can only be described of as letting God be God. This is where we will struggle because we like beings in charge and we need to be in control. We are afraid of letting go.
It is quite natural because humanity has been created a little less than a god. When we see a wrong, when we encounter a problem, we would want to rectify the situation because our human intelligence makes us problem-solvers.
The Camino pilgrimage has taught me one thing which I am still learning. Every journey undertaken, I seemed to have things which I had packed but did not need at all. The redundancies or fail-safe were never needed. The extra set of clothings that might come in handy. This gadget or that instrument. The point of faith is that God will meet us at the moment when we need Him most. That is faith. I must say that I have yet to learnt fully the meaning of having faith in the Lord’s Providence. But like the Camino, it is a life-long process of learning to trust. Perhaps death is the final act of faith that each one has to make because we can only enter eternity when we have placed ourselves fully into the loving embrace of God.
Tuesday, 7 October 2025
26th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C 2025
We remain with Prophet Amos who showed concern for the reality of inequality and perhaps we may also grow in the awareness that wealth can desensitise by making us apathetic towards the poor. In a sense riches is both a blessing and a curse and by highlighting the truth that wealth has a corroding effect on our compassion and our concern for the welfare of the less fortunate. If we have grown jaded, then this is the Church’s way of leading us back to the right path.
The shrinking of the known world enabled by easy travel and also the ubiquity of media streaming has brought the reality of poverty right before us. Anyone with a modicum of humanity will definitely find this to be unacceptable and as such there is a pressing need to alleviate poverty. Social studies have raised our awareness of societal inequalities and one of the movements which has come about from this heightened awareness is Liberation Theology. It takes the perspective of action on behalf of the poor. However, its application may also create a dichotomy which in a way pits one section of society against another. Usually the contention is between the “haves” and the “have nots”.
There is a large-scale disparity which according to the Prophet is unacceptable to God and we are called to right this inequality. In fact, more and more we have become aware of how God takes the side of the poor. Therefore the question before us is how we can, for want of a better phraseology, make something wrong something right. Sadly though, more than the existence of inequality, there is also a tendency to interpret reality through a dualistic lens. For example, we tend to look at life from the perspective of black and white with the corollary that white is associated with good and black with bad. Somehow in this difficult journey towards the attainment of a just society, the process would generally involve some forms of vilification. The rich are regularly painted as bad and poor are good. The rich are cruel and the poor are angels.
Will a dualistic typology help or will it create or foment resentment. However, and let this be clear that this is not a get-out-of-gaol card for the rich to justify, legitimise or even sanctify ignorance or apathy. There are rich and well-meaning people who have been hurt by the poor. The cheating, the lying, the stealing etc. A domestic helper can steal as well. Having said this, could such a statement also be a form of vilification of the poor, meaning that, that the rich easily blame the poor and so get away with having to do the right thing.
Bear with me because we live in an age of “hyper-sensitivity” and “trigger-warning”. We are easily offended because we are victims.
Perhaps a good way to deepen our conscience is to look at the stereo-typical “dumb foreign maid” who steals or the “stupid alien“ who does not know to take our food order etc. Many of them are educated. They have dreams too. But they just have no opportunities in their countries. In the Gospel, Abraham was named but in other places he has been described as “my father is a wandering Aramean”. What does that mean?
Many of our fore-parents came from India and China and they settled here. Many of them would have been poor and they struggled and despite challenges they rose to prominence. They had dreams too when they left in search of better opportunities etc. They succeeded and we are enjoying the fruits of their labour.
With regard to the current batches of many migrants within our country, do they not have dreams? Are not entitled to a better life or success?
The question is, would they want to come if they had a choice? Are they begging for punishment? Perhaps, the next time we are irritated by the stupidity of a poor person it might be good to remember that if given a choice, would the person serving us like to be in a position to be subservient or humiliated?
The idea of a better society is enticing and possibly we think that we need to make systemic changes. But systems can only compel our behaviour through the threats of coercion. Our focus on providing the mechanisms to engender change must take into consider the slow growth in conscience. In order to become more sensitive to societal inequality, growing a conscience is good start by becoming more aware of the plight of the poor. It is an awareness that arises from an acceptance that God has not intended injustice to be the status quo. That there is the poor is a result of sin but it does not belong to the active will of God.
The problem for many of us is that the richer we are the more we are in danger of blindness to inequality. On the other hand, there is no guarantee that even if we were to treat people well, they will not turn around to stab us in the back. The point is, we need to be responsible for our just behaviour. Take a look at Joseph’s behaviour when he found out that Mary was pregnant. There will be people who will cheat or betray us. And they can be rich or poor. But their unjust behaviour is no excuse for us not to live a righteous life.
Ultimately, we uphold and embrace a righteous life because it is pleasing to God and it is not dependent on whether others are living it. That the rich should be caring for the poor, there is no doubt. The parable of Dives and Lazarus tends to make us judge the rich as bad actors and Lazarus as the good protagonist. And that does not help us grow a better conscience. What might be more helpful is to be more conscious whether we be rich or poor, there are inequalities which need to be made right. Everyone is responsible through living righteously before the Lord.
The shrinking of the known world enabled by easy travel and also the ubiquity of media streaming has brought the reality of poverty right before us. Anyone with a modicum of humanity will definitely find this to be unacceptable and as such there is a pressing need to alleviate poverty. Social studies have raised our awareness of societal inequalities and one of the movements which has come about from this heightened awareness is Liberation Theology. It takes the perspective of action on behalf of the poor. However, its application may also create a dichotomy which in a way pits one section of society against another. Usually the contention is between the “haves” and the “have nots”.
There is a large-scale disparity which according to the Prophet is unacceptable to God and we are called to right this inequality. In fact, more and more we have become aware of how God takes the side of the poor. Therefore the question before us is how we can, for want of a better phraseology, make something wrong something right. Sadly though, more than the existence of inequality, there is also a tendency to interpret reality through a dualistic lens. For example, we tend to look at life from the perspective of black and white with the corollary that white is associated with good and black with bad. Somehow in this difficult journey towards the attainment of a just society, the process would generally involve some forms of vilification. The rich are regularly painted as bad and poor are good. The rich are cruel and the poor are angels.
Will a dualistic typology help or will it create or foment resentment. However, and let this be clear that this is not a get-out-of-gaol card for the rich to justify, legitimise or even sanctify ignorance or apathy. There are rich and well-meaning people who have been hurt by the poor. The cheating, the lying, the stealing etc. A domestic helper can steal as well. Having said this, could such a statement also be a form of vilification of the poor, meaning that, that the rich easily blame the poor and so get away with having to do the right thing.
Bear with me because we live in an age of “hyper-sensitivity” and “trigger-warning”. We are easily offended because we are victims.
Perhaps a good way to deepen our conscience is to look at the stereo-typical “dumb foreign maid” who steals or the “stupid alien“ who does not know to take our food order etc. Many of them are educated. They have dreams too. But they just have no opportunities in their countries. In the Gospel, Abraham was named but in other places he has been described as “my father is a wandering Aramean”. What does that mean?
Many of our fore-parents came from India and China and they settled here. Many of them would have been poor and they struggled and despite challenges they rose to prominence. They had dreams too when they left in search of better opportunities etc. They succeeded and we are enjoying the fruits of their labour.
With regard to the current batches of many migrants within our country, do they not have dreams? Are not entitled to a better life or success?
The question is, would they want to come if they had a choice? Are they begging for punishment? Perhaps, the next time we are irritated by the stupidity of a poor person it might be good to remember that if given a choice, would the person serving us like to be in a position to be subservient or humiliated?
The idea of a better society is enticing and possibly we think that we need to make systemic changes. But systems can only compel our behaviour through the threats of coercion. Our focus on providing the mechanisms to engender change must take into consider the slow growth in conscience. In order to become more sensitive to societal inequality, growing a conscience is good start by becoming more aware of the plight of the poor. It is an awareness that arises from an acceptance that God has not intended injustice to be the status quo. That there is the poor is a result of sin but it does not belong to the active will of God.
The problem for many of us is that the richer we are the more we are in danger of blindness to inequality. On the other hand, there is no guarantee that even if we were to treat people well, they will not turn around to stab us in the back. The point is, we need to be responsible for our just behaviour. Take a look at Joseph’s behaviour when he found out that Mary was pregnant. There will be people who will cheat or betray us. And they can be rich or poor. But their unjust behaviour is no excuse for us not to live a righteous life.
Ultimately, we uphold and embrace a righteous life because it is pleasing to God and it is not dependent on whether others are living it. That the rich should be caring for the poor, there is no doubt. The parable of Dives and Lazarus tends to make us judge the rich as bad actors and Lazarus as the good protagonist. And that does not help us grow a better conscience. What might be more helpful is to be more conscious whether we be rich or poor, there are inequalities which need to be made right. Everyone is responsible through living righteously before the Lord.
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