Faith: standing on your duty post

Sunday Reflections

Faith: standing on your duty post

 

1.The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” The Lord replied, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

“Who among you would say to your servant who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here immediately and take your place at table’?

Would he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink.You may eat and drink when I am finished’? Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded?

So should it be with you. When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants;

we have done what we were obliged to do’”(Lk17:5-10). Taken from today’s Sunday gospel for Sunday week 27C.

2. The readings of this Sunday centre on faith and its diverse dimensions. The first reading presents a prophet who is bewildered by the apparent silence of God in the face of evil. Wicked people were ouvertly maltreating the good ones and were getting away with it. He could not understand why God who is just should tolerate evil. God reminded him that he sees all but wanted the righteous to live by faith, that God is capable of carrying out his promises to the righteous. The second reading assures us that God has already sowed a seed in us which will help us to withstand evil. All we need is to be courageous and patient.

3. The gospel began with the disciples asking Jesus to increase their faith. This request came after a difficult teaching of Jesus on the punishment reserved for one who scandalizes little ones and on the need to always forgive others. The disciples who saw such teaching as hard to practise immediately asked Jesus to increase their faith. Jesus responded to their request with a statement that shows that they don’t need an increase in faith. What they had was enough. Faith is for me an opening towards God, a window towards which we peep at God. It doesn’t really matter if the window is big or small. What is important is having a good eye. That is why a faith as small as the mustard seed can move mountain if the owner uses it.

4. With such understanding, Christ invites his followers to know whom they are and act accordingly. To buttress this point he alluded to the relationship between a farm master and his servant. It is the work of the servant to serve his master before seeking for personal comfort. For great things to be realized through a disciple, he needs to know that he is a servant and has to be obedient to the wishes of God. He has to do this with a selfless dedication, expecting no reward but being happy that he has been privileged to serve such a master. It is a question of knowing one’s position and assuming it. It is God that matters.

5. Sometimes one wishes to perform signs and wonders to show that one has faith. One wants to be honoured in the sight of men. For Jesus, in matters of faith, man is only a needless instrument which God still uses not because he cannot do without him but simply because he wants to honour him. Man’s glory lies in just doing exactly that which God wants and rejoicing that one has the privilege of being used. When St. Dominic Savior entered the boarding school of St. John-Bosco he wanted be live a life of penance. He padded his matrass with pieces of stone. When Bosco noticed this, he called the young boy and told him that holiness in the school will be attained not just through penance but through doing one’s duty diligently. He obey and died a saint. Living by faith implies sticking to right attitudes independently of what is happening around the person, trusting that the righteous God will surely fulfil his words.

6. Faced with the apparent silence of God before the triumph of the wicked in the society, it is not easy to accept to remain good without becoming like others. In spite of how you feel, the Lord invites you to remember that with him every deed, good or bad must be rewarded when the time comes. He urged Habakkuk to wait patiently for the time of vengeance. Do not envy the wicked. Do not imitate his ways. Never get tired of doing what is good because the silence of God is only his way of showing his love for sinners but he will never forget to pay each one according to his deed. If he does not do it today, he will surely do it tomorrow. @Vita, 02/10/22.

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