Theme: Having an Increased Faith in God
At a time
in the history of the Israelites, there were so much tyranny, oppression and
violence against the innocent. Before this time, various prophets have
encouraged the people of Israel to remain steadfast in faith hoping that God
would give them victory at the end. However, during the time of the prophet
Habakkuk as we saw in the first reading (Hab. 1:2-3, 2:2-4), he was moved to
ask God why He allowed injustice to triumph over the oppressed. From the
response he got which we saw in the later part of the reading, it became clear
that the Lord keeps secret how He rules the world and all He asks is that we
remain faithful to Him since the upright
will live by his faithfulness.
This
reading brings to mind the problem of evil which several scholars have tried to
examine. We wonder why there seems to be evil in a world created by a good God
and why this evil also befalls good people. Like Habakkuk, we are tempted to
ask God why He allows various forms of evil to befall the righteous while the
wicked seems to flourish in all they do. Like the prophet and the people of
Israel, we are also asked to remain faithful to God for the upright will live
by his faithfulness. That God permits evil does not mean that He is not capable
of eliminating evil (omnipotent) or that He is not good (benevolent).
Today we are
invited not to focus our mind on why God permits evil for no one knows the mind
of God, but to redirect our minds to what God demands of us in the face of
evil. God demands an increased faith in Him despite the evil that surrounds us.
The presence of evil around us threatens our faith in God either by provoking a
sense of dereliction or enticing us to participate in evil. That is why faith
in God assures us that God is still in charge as it also motivates us to avoid
evil and do good. It also makes us conscious of our actions so as not to
scandalize others as well as dispose us to forgive those who wrong us.
For this
reason, the gospel reading (Luke 17:5-10) invites us to follow the examples of
the apostles who prayed that their faith be increased. Aware that faith is a
supernatural gift of God given for our good, we have to ask the Good Lord to
increase our faith in Him. An increased faith in God does not imply developing
new theologies about God but increasing our level of commitment in the things
of God. That is why the second reading (2 Tim 1:6-8,13-14) urges us to follow
the pattern of the doctrine which we have heard concerning faith and love in
Christ Jesus. We have to preserve these deposits of faith we have received from
our ancestors in the faith and try to live them out in our lives.
Beloved
friends, today the society confronts us with a lot of alternatives which weaken
our faith in God. For example, the society tries to convince us that we can
produce children in the laboratory even when God does not intervene in our
barrenness. What problem is currently challenging your faith in God? It may be
bareness after several years of marriage, it may be unemployment after several
years of graduation, it may be a financial difficulty or a family problem. Do
not be despondent but have faith in God. Faith is measured not just by our
level of conviction but by our level of commitment. Be committed in your obligation to God and your
faith would lift up that difficulty for you. Happy Sunday for God loves you.
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