10-5-25 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time
At times when we go shopping in the grocery store and we are getting things like milk or eggs; we look to see what the “due date” on the carton is so that we are sure we are getting the freshest milk or eggs. Or, we may have purchased these things sometime in the past, and we keep checking them to see when the “due date” is, by which it will identify if we should eat or drink them. Often when we pray for something special that we want or need, we may not, in our prayers, give God a” due date” by which we need His positive response; however, within our heads, we may have a definite time by which we want to see the results of our prayers. And when that “due date” passes without any answer, we may question whether God is going to be faithful in fulfilling our request. Or it may be the case, that we haven’t talked to God in a long time and we beg his attention. But in that begging, there may be a questioning type of attitude. Perhaps our prayers to God are akin to what is in the opening prayer of our mass this weekend which read “pour out your mercy upon us, what conscience dreads to give, what prayer does not dare to ask. Is it ever that way for us that we feel- “what prayer does not dare to ask.” James the apostle in his letter to his faith community writes the following, “consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance (i.e., determination, assuredness).” (James 6:1-3). Often it may be that the assuredness that we need to have, that faith and trust that we are trying to hold onto, may be difficult for us to feel. James was aware that that might happen and so he cautions his listeners that we are to ask God, not so much for solutions or answers but rather for the wisdom to know how to wait, to know how to be patient, to know how to place our trust in God. For God will surely always give us what we need but this may be different from what we want. James also stresses, if we doubt that God cares or will hear us then we become like “a wave of the sea, that is driven and tossed by the wind.(James1:6) Thus, James is advocating that we be a people of prayer because that will increase within us the faith, patience, and the wisdom to know, that God will act in God’s own time. In the first reading this Sunday, the prophet Habakkuk cries out to God how soon are you going to listen to my plea. He complains because all he can see is violence in his world, violence against his people and others. He is surrounded by destruction and “clamorous discord." Can we not relate to this kind of environment in our world today? God reminds Habakkuk and through him, us too, that God’s time is not the same as man’s time. And while that is the case, there is a vision by which God does plan to fulfill. And so, God invites Habakkuk to be patient and trusting in God- “if it (the vision) delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late. “ There is a phrase that I have heard recently, which may be a summary phrase to what is going on in this first reading between Habakkuk and God. And that phrase is “God may not be on time, but God is never late.“ Both the reading and that phrase invite us to consider in terms of our own lives and our relationship with God, how often is it that we too are impatient or questioning as to when God is going to respond? There may be also in our minds a doubt on whether God heard us, or whether God is just not answering us the way we wish for God to respond. In the second reading from Paul’s letter to Timothy, he tells him “to stir into flame, the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather of power, love, and self-control." Paul is inviting Timothy and through Timothy, us, to be persons of faith, persons of perseverance. At times, that means being a person of patience and trust. This will not always be easy as Paul informs Timothy and Paul admits that from time-to-time Timothy and us “must bear our share of the hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God." This truly is a statement about what faith requires of us. Or as the psalmist in Psalm 46 advises us that at times we need to “be still and know that I am God. “ This trust and reliance on God are what Jesus is speaking of when the disciples ask him to “increase our faith. “ The fear or anxiety in them comes from being aware of the promise and the peril that will ensue in their lives by following Jesus. While their understanding of what Jesus is doing in his mission is limited, they are learning, sometimes very slowly, that faith is the lens by which everything else comes into focus- and the more they become aware of their need for faith, the more they will want to have their faith increased. Is that the way it is for us too?1 As we focus on our call to be disciples does it ever shake our faith and courage for following Jesus' way of living? If we look up in the evening sky, we will see billions and billions of stars. In fact, the James Webb Space Telescope can peer across that sky as far as 13 billion years of light. Showing us that there was an existence long before we came be and it will continue long after we have passed out of our lives. And yet it is God who is fulfilling His plan, but it is a plan that will be fulfilled in God’s time. Just as we cannot imagine what 13 billion years is like, neither can we imagine how God chooses to act. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, my thoughts higher than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8-9) As we read the Scriptures, we can be at times be impressed by how different people in the scriptures manifested their faith in Jesus. Unlike Paul, who is riding on the road to Damascus, set up to arrest all the Christians, and is suddenly t thrown from his horse by a blinding light from heaven, complete with a voice calling his name; or Peter, who is asked, who is Jesus, responds “you are the Messiah”; most of us will never hear choirs singing or see visions of white fire in our encounter with God. Instead, we our experience may be something smaller, something more of ordinary, like the miracle of us saying, yes, to God without having also a spectacle or drama. To trust God's goodness is itself a miracle, isn’t it? Such trust is asked of many, but many refuse or pass it up for some other type of concrete assurance like money, power, or influence. But look at the recovering alcoholic who stops drinking when every odd was against him doing so. Or the widow who keeps showing up for worship, even when her heart aches with absence of her spouse. Or the neighbor who prays faithfully and quietly for her family to return to church, even when nothing seems to be changing. More often than not these are the mustard seed moments of faith that change people’s lives and that may be more aligned to our own faith life. And yet this happens to millions of people the world over and no one except those involved feel God’s hand empowering them. Through their assuredness, their perseverance they and we move ahead. These mustard seeds of change may not look like very much on the world’s scale of actions, but in God‘s eyes, they contain in them the power to uproot mountains and turn the world upside down.2 We are called to be a people of faith, but faith that can move mountains can only grow through prayer, through the grace of God, and through the support of our communities of faith. There is nothing magical here or instant, rather it takes a disciplined approach for faith to grow. “There is a story from the anniversary of an old church. After years remodeling the church, they added a steeple with a bell. When it was completed, one man climbed up the tower and into the belfry, and surprisingly stood on his head, with his feet, pointing heavenward. It may sound like an extremely eccentric thing to do perhaps foolish. Certainly, something that none of us would do, right? But it was a parable: for when the church lives by faith everything gets turned upside down. Love becomes law. The last becomes first. The meek inherit the Earth. The cross, an instrument of shame, becomes a sign of salvation.3 Faith is not a mystery we can solve and walk away with the fullest of confidence. Faith is something that we must live day by day. We need to develop a faithful attitude to our presence before our God. Our God who loves us; our God who stands by us, and a God who is trustworthy. Our God who waits for our response. And the more we come to him in prayer and through the sacraments, the more the grace and power of His presence grows in our lives. The more we can accept that we do not need all the answers and that they will come in time, then we can realize in our lives that God's time is our time too.
"Be still and know that I am God"
1. 1. Voicings.com
2. 2. Ibid
3. 3. Ibid
