Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary TIme

Growing up in the 19 ^th ward in the City of Rochester and going to Our Lady of Good Counsel School and Church and playing ball in Genesee Valley Park and riding my bike along the streets of Southwest Rochester, trust was a stable of my growing up years.  Some of my neighbors were second mothers to me, and we did not worry about safety.   My brothers and sisters grew up in a safe and loving environment.

Fast forward to today, that kind of trust has been replaced my “stranger-danger;”  keep everything securely locked and have as many video cameras as possible to provide for our safety.

Sadly, very sadly, in many ways, we have lost our ability to trust others.  Our government leaders too often add to the distrust we have with each other.  The bankruptcy filing of our diocese doesn’tencourage trust as well.

We see in today’s First Scripture reading that the issue of trust was familiar territory for the prophet Habakkuk – even his trust in God was shaken.

The prophet Habakkuk lived about 600 years before Christ.  The Jews were in desperate shape.  They were being threatened by their enemies and falling apart internally.

Habakkuk cries out to God:  “How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen?  Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not save?  Why do you make me look at injustice?”

Habakkuk had wondered where the absent God was.  In the second Scripture reading the apostle Paul had a radically different experience of trusting in God.  Paul had come to know through faith in the crucified Christ that God was never absent but endured our suffering with us.  In today’s Scripture passage, Paul is encouraging Timothy to a similar faithfulness.  He says: “Stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands.”

As we pray over the Gospel today, let’s, you and I, stand in the shoes of the apostles who said to the Lord:  “Increase our faith.”  Let us also hear the Lord say to us:  “If your faith is the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”

Jesus is telling us:  “Don’t let yourself off the hook!  You have already plenty to accomplish all that I ask.  The apostles are suggesting that Jesus needs to give them more faith.  Jesus is telling them they have plenty of faith already.  So stop making excuses for yourself.

We are all capable of feeling sorry for ourselves as a parish community, are we not?  We do not have as many people coming to Church on Sunday as we once did.  Our CMA goal of $230,000 is too much.  This an unreasonable request.  The Bishop doesn’t know the challenges we face.

In having the faith even the size of a mustard seed is an incredible God-given gift.  The potential of the faith that we have is enormous.  In fact, nothing is impossible with God.  When our gift of faith is a quality of life, a way of living, and a way of seeing, we will encounter the Lord in all that we say and do.    As we gather at Mass today, you may have come with family members, but with faith-filled eyes may we see all of us gathered as sisters and brothers coming together in the name of Jesus.

When we trust in the faith that has been given to us by our faithful God, to raise $230,000 CMA dollars to help people in need across our diocese is very, very doable.  In fact, it is a privilege for us to share from our resources to help others in need.  This is not a burden.  This is living out our high calling as disciples of the Lord Jesus. 

If we claim the gift of faith that has been given to us, if we believe that Jesus gives us an inner strength, if we are willing to share our five barley loaves and two fish, again to raise $230,000 CMA dollars to help people across the diocese is very, very doable.  It is a privilege for us to share from our resources to help others in need.  This is not a burden.  This is living out our high calling as disciples of the Lord Jesus.

In a spirituality of stewardship in which everyone commits a bit of time, talent, and treasure, the potential we have as a parish community is comparable to uprooting the mulberry tree and planting it in the sea.

 We will trust in one another when we encounter the Lord as we encounter one another.  The Lord will increase our faith by making us more aware of who we are already are as God’s beloved sons and daughters.

As the prophet Habakkuk proclaimed, “Write down this vision clearly upon the tablets, so that one can read it readily.”  As a people of faith, as a people with faith the size of a mustard seed, our vision for our parish is full of hope and abounding with the inner peace and joy that comes from the Lord.