Bible
Study: Habakkuk 1, 2 to 3 and 2, 2 to 4. 2nd Timothy 1, 6 to 14 and Luke
17, 5 to 10.
In the midst of the difficulties and challenges that we face
today as a country, as a community and even as individual families, the words
of the prophet Habakkuk may serve as a source of strength and relief. According
to him, the righteous shall live by his faith. And when we consider the meaning
of faith according to the letter to the Hebrews, it is the “assurance of things
hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11, 1.
That is to say, what keeps us going as Christians is not that we
receive answers to our prayers but that we have this deep inner conviction that
we will surely get the things that we are praying for. To some extent, faith is
like living in an imaginary world, a world that is somehow different from
reality. To be convinced about things you have not yet seen and to hope that
you will surely see them is difficult for the ordinary person.
This faith which puts us on fire with expectation is something
that makes us different from the rest of the world. Hence St. Paul encourages the
Bishop Timothy in today’s second reading to fan into flames the spirit of God
that he received at ordination.
It is not easy to believe in things which you cannot see. No wonder
in today’s Gospel passage, the disciples of Jesus begged him to increase their
faith. But according to Jesus, faith is not an object; it is not something that
can grow. It is either you have faith or you lack faith completely. If you actually
have faith, it doesn’t matter if it as small as a tiny mustard seed, it is
capable of performing wonders for you.
I have never seen or heard of any person who invented a machine,
made a new discovery or worked on a project without the initial belief that
such could be possible. For instance, there is a quote by Albert Einstein which
states: “I have tried 99 times but have failed, but on the 100th time,
came success. That is faith. It is with
faith that we are able to step out of our houses each day, something inside of
us tells us that we will succeed in what we plan to do each day and that
expectation pushes us on. Even when we know of a million things that could go
wrong, our belief in a successful outcome which is often greater than our fear
keeps us going.
Today, Jesus is encouraging to have faith in God even when it
seems as if we are not getting from God what we expect. Even when we are not
getting immediate answers to our prayers, Jesus says we should think of
ourselves as servants who after going out to work all day for their master do
not get rewarded immediately they return home. The servant still has to prepare
food for the master and wait for the master to finish eating before he too can
eat. God is the master and we are the servants. By living righteously, we
expect God to quickly answer our prayers and reward us for our good deeds but
Jesus is saying: “No, that is not how it works.” We do not get answers to our
prayers immediately, we have to wait for God the master to reward us when he so
pleases. A good servant will not grumble against his master, instead he will
wait believing that the master already knows he deserves his reward and would
surely grant it.
A hopeless person is one that no longer prays for anything good
but continues to expect things to go from bad to worse. He approaches life from
a negative perspective and never stops complaining about the situation of
things. Dear friends in Christ, no matter what life may present at the moment, I
encourage you to start believing again. St. Augustine once said: “Faith is to
believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you
believe.” This is so true and it works perfectly all the time. If you believe
that things would work out well for you, it will surely work out.
Sing: Only believe, only believe, all things are possible, only
believe.
Let us
pray:
Lord
Jesus, increase my faith. Amen.
Be Happy.
Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. Happy Sunday.
Fr. Abu
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