Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2”2-4, 2Timothy 1:6-8.13-14, Luke 17:5-10
FOUR HOMILY NOTES
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Rev. Fr. Stephen Udechukwu
If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come.
One of the things we lack in our world today is patience. Nobody wants to wait for anybody. Sometimes you are driving on the road and suddenly you meet serious traffic and need to struggle to come out of this traffic to find out that there is really nothing causing it rather than that nobody wants to wait. We want everything “sharp sharp”. Our prayers must be answered “sharp sharp”, our food is now “sharp sharp” food / fast food, our prayers “sharp sharp” nobody wants to spend time with God. Our driving is “sharp sharp” and that is why an “okada” man will never wait for you to pass and vis-vasa. And because we want everything “sharp sharp” we also die sharp sharp. When you check the average number of some of those who die in our world today it ranges from 30, 40 50years, people no longer grow old as before. We have forgotten the saying that “the patient dog eats the fattest bone” and that lack of patience can stop us from getting to where God wants to lead us.
Saul’s inpatient made the days of his kingship to be shortened in 1 Samuel 13:8-14. Because Saul could not wait for Samuel to arrive for the sacrifice to be made, Samuel said to him “you have done a foolish thing by not obeying the commands of the Lord your God who would have established your rule forever. But now your kingship will not last…” The anger of the Lord, if not for Moses, would have burned on the People of Israel in Exodus 32:1-14 because of their impatience; because they were not patient enough to wait for Moses to come down from the mountain. They forgot that in dealing with God, one must be patient because God takes his time to do his things hence he says in Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my ways are not your ways, neither are your thoughts my thought…”
We see Prophet Habakkuk running out of patience in our first reading. Habakkuk wrote shortly before the Babylonian invasion of Judah and the capturing of the great city of Jerusalem. During this period when Habakkuk wrote, things were terribly bad. One may be tempted to compare his time with Nigeria of today; it was a period of internal wickedness. Exactly at this time, the great king Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian armies claimed mighty power. There were political instabilities, embezzlement of public funds, idolatry of all forms and levels. In fact things were really bad for the people. Habakkuk like many of us would do, in the midst of all these lost patience and went into dialogue with God. He asked the same questions we ask today. God where are you? God why? God why are you far from us? God why have you allowed the wicked ones to triumph? God, when are you going to punish our politicians? Habakkuk said to God “how long shall I cry for help and you will not hear?” He wanted God to do something “sharp sharp”. But the Lord answered him “if it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay”. The Lord assured him that He will definitely answer their prayers but they need to be patient. When it seems the evil ones are gaining the glory the Lord says I will still answer; when it seems things have gone bad beyond repair He says I will still do something. All you need is to be patient with me.
This same response given to Prophet Habakkuk is what God is also given to you and me today. He says be patient. When things are not working out well for you, the Lord says be patient and persist in Faith. When after so many years in marriage yet no child, the Lord says be patient and persist in faith. When the politicians are embezzling our money and getting the best fruit of our labours to themselves, the Lord says be patient and persist in faith for I will surely bring them to pay dearly for it.
The story of the man at the pool of Bethzatha in John 5:1-15 must teach us a lesson. This man waited for 38 years at that pool without getting tired of struggling and making an effort. Each time the angel comes to turn the water he makes an effort even when he knew others would get there before him. Again this man did not get tired and moved elsewhere in search of a solution. He waited at the pool with faith, hoping that one day it would be his turn and indeed one day it became his turn. It was patient and persistent faith that turned the life of Jairus around in Mark 5:21-43. The Lord needed to test Jairus’ patience hence he did not immediately grant his request. Worse still Jairus was there before Jesus while Jesus was busy answering other people’s prayer like the woman with Hemorrhage in Mark 5:25. Ordinarily Jairus would have walked away from Jesus to another place in search of help but he did not. In fact Jesus answered him only when things became worse in the human face. Do not lose hope dearly beloved, God is still on the throne and will definitely answer only if we are patient. HAPPY SUNDAY AND GOD BLESS YOU.
*It’s October 2022 Rosary challenge. Have you prayed your Rosary today?*
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Fr. Daniel Evbotokhai
ASK FOR FAITH
The basic theme linking today’s readings is faith. Hebrews 11:1 tells us that faith is “being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Perhaps no other component of the Christian life is more important than faith. We cannot purchase it from any market, we cannot sell it in any Church or crusade ground, we cannot download it from the internet, and we cannot borrow it from anyone. Eph. 2:8 makes it clear that faith is a gift from God. Faith is a gift and a supernatural gift for that matter. If it were a natural gift some may afford it; but as a supernatural gift no one can buy it. If it was affordable the disciples will not ask for it they will go and buy it. Faith is a gift. This gift enables us to believe without doubting whatever God has revealed. Penny Catechism (Catechism of Christian Doctrine no.9).
In the first reading, Prophet Habakkuk exhorts the Israelites not to give up in the face of challenges that appear to be undermining their faith in God. Christians are discouraged when they don’t get result. Heb. 10:35 says cast not your confidence for there shall be a recompense of reward. Beloved in Christ, one thing the devil does is to discourage the children of God, so if we are not discouraged we shall be rewarded. Don’t give up gold is tested by fire for the righteous shall live by faith.
The disciples said to Jesus “increase our faith!” this is a prayer for increase. One of the the hallmarks of modern culture is our constant desire for more things, including knowledge, money, power, homes, and cars. People seek for increase most times only in worldly things. Here we are presented today with the good example of the disciples. We should equally ask for increase in faith, in virtues and in love. When was the last time you prayed for that which concerns the will of the Father, life is not about personal advantage life is about fulfilling the will of God.
Faith doesn’t seek sign. Faith is defined as belief in God, or trust in God without logical proof. Whenever, you seek for proof in order for you to believe you are engage in empiricism. A man who has faith does not wait for verification. The bible says in John 20:29 blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. Faith is confidence without evidence. The woman with the issue of blood in Mark 5: 25-34 only heard about Jesus and she was confident to touch Jesus. Confidence without evidence. It so sad today, a lot of Christians hear God’s message but go about searching for signs. Many Christians run around for signs and wonders and pastors have turned them to wanderers.
Lastly, Jesus likened faith to mustard seed, therefore to grow in faith we must treat our faith life a seed that is planted. Without proper care and attention, the seedling will fade away. Five things we must do about our faith:
Care: We must care for it like a seed. St. Paul encourages the Bishop Timothy in today’s second reading to fan into flames the spirit of God that he received at ordination.
Commitment: A relationship can’t grow without commitment – without dedicated time and effort. How much attention do we give to God especially at the seedling stage of our faith?
Water: Water sustains life. How do you water your faith? Study and Learn. Read the Bible. Go to Bible study. Read good books (Saints). Learn about Christianity and her history.
Sunshine: Hold tight to the positive influences you find (via social media and television). Their sunlight will strengthen your stem and deepen your roots.
Weed: Don’t allow weeds suffocate your budding plant! Weeds are darkness, doubt and harmful influences in our life. Eliminate the bad impacts because they can resemble the actual plant.
LET US PRAY
Almighty ever-living God, who in the abundance of your kindness surpass the merits and the desires of those who entreat you, pour out your mercy upon us to pardon what conscience dreads and to give what prayer does not dare to ask. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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Fr. Evaristus Okeke
The responsibility of FAITH
“ the righteous shall live by faith ” (Hab.2:4)
The readings of today are centered on faith. Faith is a supernatural gift of God which enables us to believe without doubting, whatever God has revealed. We have faith when we believe in the existence and workings of God, and allow this believe to shape our way of life. Living out this definition of faith is the focus of today’s liturgy. In the gospel reading, Jesus said that with a faith as small a grain of mustard seed, we could uproot a sycamore tree and plant it in the sea. We have interpreted this to mean that faith enables us to solve life’s problems in a way that is almost magical. We call this miracle. This interpretation is not entirely out of place. However, there is another dimension to it. Faith is a responsibility; a responsibility to carryout ones bounden duty. Therefore, you exercise faith not only when you rebuke and bind, but also when you do what is required of you.
In the first reading, the author is sorrowful and maybe disappointed in God. He is surprised at the enormous negativities around him despite his belief in the existence of a good and powerful God. This author represents you and I who are sometimes scandalized at the sufferings of the just. It seems as though the suffering of the just mocks their believe in God. What father will be so good and powerful and yet allow his beloved Children suffer untold hardship! The response of God is one of assurance and perseverance. God wants us to hold Him by his Word; so He says: Write the vision. He assures that the vision must come to pass; it will not fail. The vision may delay, but it must come.
What the Lord expects of us is to continue to believe in Him even when answers are not forth coming as we expect. But then, it is often said that it is only a fool that repeats the same thing and expects a different result. Beloved, if the “repetition” is unwavering faith in God, and if the “expectation” is God’s intervention, we can be certain that our perseverance will pay-off. In this context, faith is therefore the ability to remain steadfast in the Lord against all odds. No Christian can be rightly one if he has not learnt how to wait upon the Lord. Evil should not scandalize us to stop praying, to stop going to Church, to stop being good, to stop being cheerful, to stop going for confession/receiving communion, to stop pursuing holiness of life, and so on. We may be disappointed and confuse now, but if we remain faithful, everything will make sense at the set time.
In the gospel reading, Jesus used a parable to teach us that faith is not Christianity without responsibility. Faith is not all about getting results; faith is doing our work well. Faith is not what I want God to do for me but doing what God expects of me. This implies that we cannot claim to have faith if we are not living by God’s commandments. The litmus test for knowing a faithful Christian is not the ability to quote the bible and work miracles but the conformity of one’s way of life to the tenets of the gospel. With this in mind, we realize that faith is almost a rare thing in the lives of many Christians. Are we committed to our duties: in the family, at work, in the street, in the organization/social groups we belong to? You clearly have no faith when you are always cutting corners, giving excuses, pretending to be incapacitated, all in a bid to evade your civic duties. So, you demonstrate faith everywhere and in everything. Faith is full-time; never part-time. A faith that is active only in Church or at times of prayers, is no real faith but cosmetic.
Beloved in Christ, St. Paul, in the second reading, encourages us to rekindle the gift of God within us; one of which is Faith. We really need to re-energize our faith because continuously, we face situations that weaken, threaten and tempt us. A faith that is not sharpened will become blunt and then dead. Persistent prayer life and reading of God’s Word will keep our faith alive. Belonging to a Christian community will also help. Don’t just go to Church for Mass, worse still, only on Sundays, and then go home. No! Your membership and activeness in one lay apostolic group or the other, will help a great deal. Furthermore, utilize opportunities to be catechize. Oftentimes, we (Priests) are blamed for not spending ample time in preaching the Word during homilies. While it is true that what qualifies as ample time can be relative, it is also true that time will not permit for everything to be said/taught during homilies. Therefore, when opportunities are created for catechesis outside Mass, try to utilize it optimally. Notice that during the homily, there is no opportunity to ask questions or make any input. But we will have such opportunities during catechesis outside Mass.
Beloved, the Lord has spoken to us today. Let us heed the words of the psalmist: O that today you would listen to his voice! Harden not your hearts. The extent to which we are hardened against God’s Word is the extent to which we are faithless. Evaluate yourself by yourself. *God Bless You!*
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Fr. Paul Oredipe
LORD, INCREASE OUR FAITH
“Increase our faith”. This is the prayer of the apostles to our Lord in today’s gospel. This is also our prayer and cry today. It is also the message for us today.
A review of the Church’s teaching will help us to appreciate the importance of this virtue. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1).
Faith is a fundamental virtue, the foundation of the whole Christian life. Jesus taught his disciples how to grow in faith, to believe in Him and entrust themselves to Him more and more, to build their lives upon the rock. Thus, they ask Him: “Increase our faith” (Luke 17:6). It is a great request that they make of the Lord, it is the fundamental request.
His response shows that the efficacy of faith does not depend on its quantity, its size and amount, its volume, but rather on its quality, its worth. What is important is the kind of faith you have. It has to be authentic and genuine. Jesus tells them that it is not a question of more or less faith, but how you live with the little faith you’ve got left. What is important is not the amount of faith, but the kind of faith.
What Peter and Matthew and John wanted was an increase in trust. For faith in its fullness is a surrender of our whole being. To believe means that we yield everything, including our whole self to God.
Faith is not jumping to a conclusion; it is rather concluding to jump into the arms of God our Father, unconditionally accepting that Jesus is His Son and believing in the words He spoke and in the power He possesses. It is “by this faith a just man lives” (Heb. 2:4).
This kind of faith is seen in Abraham leaving country and relatives, not knowing where he was to go, or what would happen to him along the way, knowing only that God was calling him at the age of 75 to leave what he loved and settle where God alone knew.
This kind of faith is seen in Job crying out in the midst of his torments: “Though God slay me, yet will I trust in him.”
The point is this. For all that He was the Son of God, for all that He had a unique relationship with his Father, Jesus, true God and true man, died with faith in his Father, with hope of life forever. That is why Jesus’ last agonizing words from the cross are so striking, so faith-filled: “Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit.” He died, trusting, trusting in a Father ever faithful.
Faith transforms our insight and our heart, since it makes us see people and events the way God sees them, and it gives us the certainty that God is with us to make us live to the full forever.
The prophet, Habukkuk, in Chapter 1:2-3, 2:2-4 (the first reading today) was speaking at a time of great danger. He lived in the days of the Babylonian captivity. Israel was in peril, invasion threatened and God seemed remote. He saw God’s people being oppressed by their enemies who were both pagan and more sinful people than the Jews. He was worried by the injustice, wickedness and violence of the oppressors and the suffering of the oppressed. He was even more worried by the fact of the God of holiness and justice tolerating such an evil for a long time. So the prophet cried out: “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear?” and the answer comes that the danger will only be for a time.
God gave an answer which only a man of faith could accept. He gave him a vision into the apparently far and dim eternity, which will be the day of reward of the upright and annihilation of wickedness and evil. For the upright, his faithfulness is his only guarantee.
That is the same message in the second reading of today, that we hear from St. Paul in writing to Timothy (2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14). He tells Timothy, “Follow the pattern of the sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus; guard the truth that has been entrusted to you by the Holy Spirit who dwells within you.”
The Gospel passage (Luke 17:5-10) also urges all of us, as we are tempted to cry out in frustration, anger perhaps, to “have faith”. Jesus means, “Trust in me. Trust in God.” Faith is that strong conviction. It is this kind of faith that we must have. The disciple is called to witness to Christ in faith and in the community of faith, the Church. Faith is the wheel on which the Church runs.
Without faith, the Church can neither know, contact, love God nor please Him. In her itinerary of faith, often marked by moments of threats, tensions, persecutions, etc. the Church has always one perennial need, namely, increase in faith.
St. Luke stresses that the major challenge of the Church is to ensure herself of increasing faith. As the saying goes, he who does not know, and does not know that he does not know, is a fool. But he who does not know, and knows that he does not know, is a wise man. The apostles know that their faith is not adequate. And they took steps to improve their faith.
In response to the prayer and request of the disciples: “Increase our faith”, Jesus said that what they (and ourselves today) need was not a quantitative faith but a qualitative one: “If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this sycamine tree, ‘Be rooted up, and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you”. A rich man without faith is poor. A poor man with faith is rich.
Jesus makes us aware that, before God, we find ourselves in a similar situation: we are God’s servants; we are not His creditors but we are always debtors in relation to Him because we owe Him everything, because everything is His gift. Accepting and doing His will is the way that we must live every day, in every moment of our life. Before God we must not present ourselves as those who believe that they have done a service and deserve a great recompense. This is an illusion that can arise in everyone, even in persons who do a much work in the Lord’s service, in the Church.
We must instead be aware that we never do enough for God. We must say, as Jesus suggests: “We are useless servants. We did what we were obliged to do” (Luke 17:10). This is an attitude of humility that truly puts us in our place and permits the Lord to be very generous with us.
In fact, in another passage of the Gospel, He promises us that “he will gird himself, have us sit at table and will serve us” (cf. Luke 12:37). If we do the Lord’s will every day, with humility, without expecting anything from Him, Jesus himself will serve us, help us, encourage us, give us strength and peace.
Remember what Saint Paul says about Jesus: “Who though he was God, emptied himself, took human form, even became a slave and gave himself over to death, even the ignominious death of the cross.” (cf. Phil. 2:8). Jesus became a slave to become part of us, to become one of us and we become one with Him, the Son of God. So now, we are members of God’s household. That is the message that Jesus is giving to us. When we accept that message in faith, then we know that God is with us, and that no matter how desperate of a situation, God is right there with us.
The truth that this gospel passage (Luke 17:5-10) shows us is that mature faith consists not in how much God attends to our immediate needs, but in how willing we are to serve God unconditionally, without counting the cost.
God’s most common response comes to us in our second reading, “I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control.” We do not need exterior change as much as change on the inside. We need to see the gifts of the Spirit that God has given us. We can easily quench the Spirit when we give in to our doubts and fears.
The message from our Scriptures today is “be people of faith, trust in the vision that God projects to us through Jesus, the reign of God.” Trust in people of faithfulness and it will happen. Today as we try to take in these scriptures, we pray that God will give us the ability to see the vision, to believe in the vision of God’s reign and to commit ourselves to help Jesus to make it happen.
Faith is holding on to the faithfulness of God, and as long as you do that, you cannot go wrong. Faith does not look at the difficulties of life but on the goodness of God. What Jesus wants us to learn from this parable is that faith looks at God; it is interested in God only, and it talks about God, serves God, praises God and extols the virtues of God. The measure of the strength of a person’s faith is ultimately the measure of his/her knowledge of God. He knows God so well that he can rest on the knowledge.
Today’s gospel shows us that mature faith consists not in how much God attends to our immediate needs but in how willing we are to serve God unconditionally, without counting the cost. This is why the apostles wanted their faith to be increased and take steps to have it increased. Like the apostles we have need to ask and work for the increase of our faith.
We come to Church today seeking this type of faith. We ask God to help us to serve him in every aspect of our lives. We pray that we might have a faith life that is so strong, that the difficulties and crises we face will themselves become opportunities for us to place our trust in God.
“Increase our faith!”: This is a good ejaculatory prayer for every Christian. “Everything is possible for anyone who has faith.”
Let us today join the apostles in asking the Lord to increase our faith. That is our prayer, now and always.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
LET US PRAY
Almighty ever-living God, who in the abundance of your kindness surpass the merits and the desires of those who entreat you, pour out your mercy upon us to pardon what conscience dreads and to give what prayer does not dare to ask. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
