Twenty Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time (Lk. 17:5-10)“Act and Find Belief”
Twenty Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time (Lk. 17:5-10)
“Act and Find Belief”
Our readings today reflect on the nature of faith. We could say that the question that is posed is whether the faith is a noun or a verb.
In the first lesson we meet the Prophet Habakkuk. Habakkuk lived six centuries before Christ. The city of Jerusalem was going to be conquered by the Babylonians. Habakkuk has the audacity to question God. He cries out, “How long O Lord? Why don’t you intervene?” The Jews believed that Jerusalem was the city where their God dwelt. If it was conquered this would be a sign that somehow their trust in God had been misplaced. God responds saying, “The vision still has its time.” How often does humanity ask the same question? We see all the crises in the world from Ukraine to the hurricane Ian and we doubt.
We then read from the Letter of St. Paul to Timothy. Timothy is a young bishop leading his church community in Ephesus. He is overwhelmed by his responsibility. He is a frustrated pastor. He is in despair. But Paul tells him to recall the faith that he had when he first became Christian. “Stir into life that flame of faith.” Fire needs a spark. Fire needs fuel. Fire needs oxygen. Sometimes a fire dies down, but if we take a stick and mix the fuel the fire will flame up again. Paul uses that image to encourage Timothy.
Finally, we have the Gospel images that Jesus proposes. Jesus warns his disciples not to “scandalize the little ones.” He challenges them to put their faith into practice. Jesus dares them to be forgiving. He puts forth the ideal that if someone offends us, we must forgive them seven times a day which flies in the face of worldly values. If someone is repeatedly insulting towards us our natural response is to turn away. We often will hurl insults back at the offending party. Our first inclination won’t be to say, “I forgive you.”
The disciple’s response was what our response is. “We want more faith if we are going to live this way.” Jesus comes back with a variety of images. He says that if the disciples had any kind of faith, they could uproot a mulberry tree and plant it in the sea. If we are familiar with mulberry trees, we know they have a root system that is extensive, and it can be seen running along the ground with the naked eye. To think that such a tree could be transplanted easily is hard.
What are we to make of all the challenges we receive in the Scriptures this week? The theme we could draw from all of this is that exercising the virtue of faith will take us to places we never would have imagined. Christian preachers are tasked with challenging people to exercise their faith.
When I was in campus ministry, I took groups of students to Appalachia to work for the Christian Appalachia Project during spring breaks. The college students would work for a week rehabbing a house for the poor. The fact that college students would give up fun in the sun to do manual labor was commendable. But the object of the trip wasn’t simply to thank the students for their charity.
Each night there were presentations on Appalachia so that students might understand the injustices that had led to the systemic poverty that was prevalent there. One night the founder of the Christian Appalachia Project came to speak. His name was Fr. Ralph Beiting. Fr. Beiting had worked in the region for decades. As a young priest he asked to be sent there. He wanted to work for the poor in this region. He wanted to start Catholic parishes where there were none. Fr. Beiting shared his journey, how he preached on street corners, started churches, and raised funds. He spoke, for example, of how he built up his donor base by sending out appeals using names out of a phone book. Taking a risk that he built up a 30 million dollar a year charity.
He didn’t thank the students for coming to serve. He confronted them. At the end of his talk he said, “If I, with all my limitations, can do what I have done, what might you do with the educations you are receiving. Don’t just serve yourself serve others.”
Our scriptures today offer a similar challenge. We are asked not just to look at faith as a noun, a virtue we hope to obtain, but we are asked to look at faith as a verb. We find faith when we act, especially when take up the challenge of serving others.
Reflection Questions:
Do I wait for faith to arrive? What would be better?
How do Jesus’ words challenge me? What action has built up my belief in God?
Dear Parishioners,
Bishop Tylka announced a few months ago that the diocese would engage in a planning process. He entitled the study, Growing Disciples. The problem that the diocese of Peoria has is that we have about 155 parishes, but only 120 priests to pastor them. In the next ten years about 30 priests are eligible to retire. We have 22 seminarians. Looking at these numbers we are headed in the wrong direction. The question is what we will do?
Bishop Tylka feels like he cannot just be passive. He must act. What will this mean? What it will mean is that parishes will be consolidated so that there will be stronger parishes in the long term. There are many questions to be answered.
What is happening right now we might ask? Right now, statistics are being gathered from each parish about finances and the number of parishioners, etc. The priests have been asked to answer questions and right now the Catholic Leadership Institute (The consultants the Diocese has hired) is interviewing select lay people.
Other meetings and interviews will be taking place over the next six months. I have no idea where this will lead. The bishop assures us that no decisions have been made. I will pass on more information as it is shared. Let’s pray that the Holy Spirit will guide this effort. I would guess significant change is coming.
May Our Lady pray for us in the days to come,
Fr. Mark