Homily–Timothy P. Dore–October 7th, 2001
The first reading from Habakkuk and the Gospel of Luke invite us to reflect upon the meaning of faith. What is faith?
In today’s Gospel the Apostles beg Jesus to give them more faith. Perhaps they felt that they did not have enough, or would not be strong enough should their faith be put to the test. They begged the Lord to give them more faith. I am sure that many of us have had moments when we have gone before God in our prayers and like the apostles have begged for more faith–or at least for a greater ability to make sense of the world and all that has happened around us.
The first reading tells us that “the upright person will live by faithfulness.” The reading tells us that such a person will live this way even when evils of oppression, injustice, tyranny, outrage violence, contention and discord are all around. Habakkuk certainly means to say that a person of faith will not participate in such evils, and will be able to rise above them in his or her own life.
I couldn’t help but to think about the recent events of September 11th as I contemplated the words of Habakkuk “why do you set injustice before me, why do you look on where there is tyranny? Outrage and violence, this is all I see.”
Can any of us really understand how such evil could triumph right before our ours? Is there one among us who did not ask the question, “how could our God let this happen to us?” And what person here today does not sit with at least a little uneasiness about events that are to come in response to those who have committed such savage acts of terror right in our back yard.
As I contemplate these questions, I want to say that our faith must be strong–but not misguided. Our faith must have deep roots, but not rooted in foolishness. We must be enthusiastic people of faith, but not fanatics.
All of us have been faced with difficult moments in our lives. Chances are that it was our faith that got us through the most difficult of those moments. Our faith promises us to get us through the current national crisis.
What are some of the difficult moments that all of us have faced?
–The difficulty of watching a dearly loved one die because of a terrible disease.
–The loss of a our job or a friend who has lost a job and has had a difficult time fining another.
–The trauma of dealing with the automobile crash of a family member or friend.
–The financial ruin of people we know and love.
–The death of a child, either our own, someone in our extended family, a neighbor or even the child of someone we don’t even know.
–The knowledge that someone close to us is in a difficult marriage.
–The divorce of our parents, or a couple dear to us.
–The helplessness we feel when we have been victimized in some way–by robbery, assault, some kind of abuse, and even the torture of psychological abuse.
–The sudden loss of a loved one who has died at an early age.
I could probably go on for another hour with a hundred or so sad situations that all of us have dealt with in one way or another.
The message of our readings today is simply this: We shall endure if we have faith. Even if we just have a little bit of faith (like the reference of Jesus to the Mustard Seed in the Gospel) we will be able to overcome the difficult moments in our lives.
Oh but it is so easy to say “just have faith.”
As I was thinking about this I remembered that faith is not something we just take off of the shelf when we need it–kind of like a bottle of oil that is stored away until the tires on the bicycle are squeaky and need to be oiled again. Faith must be something we visit every day and cultivate–much like the athlete who practices for hours and hours every week to perfect his sport. Baseball great Cal Ripkin did not achieve his stature and ability overnight. It was cultivated and developed for many years and led him to the stature and success he has today.
Let’s not run to the church only when we face crises in our lives. It is really impossible to have faith amid the crises of our lives, if faith is not first a way of life.
The events of September 11th have called us to ask many questions, but we know that if we have and maintain our faith, then we will be like the upright person in the first reading today who lives by faithfulness.
