October 2^nd 2016.Twenty Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL: Luke 17:5-10

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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GOSPEL: Luke 17:5-10

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 ploughing 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.’”

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . The Gospel this Sunday seems to contain two disconnected statements of Jesus. One tells us of the importance of having faith, and says that faith as large as a mustard seed can accomplish great things. The other statement speaks of a servant who comes in from the fields and is now expected to serve his master. Jesus says that the servant does not deserve to be applauded for his tenacious service. Don Fabio tells us that these two statements are actually intimately connected. Faith in God is not an easy, passive thing. It demands tenacity, obedience and humility – exactly the attitude shown by the faithful servant who comes in from the fields and continues to serve his master. It is not easy to have constant faith in the Lord! Like the prophet Habakkuk in the first reading, we are surrounded by pain, anguish and desolation. How often we feel like giving up, like ceasing to pray, like resigning ourselves to despair! This is the very time that we need to abandon ourselves to the Lord, placing ourselves before him in humble submission, continuing to serve him. Such an attitude is not one of moralism or activism, but the attitude of one who wishes to maintain his relationship with the Lord above all else. If we can hold on in faith, then the moment of crisis will pass and we will have the recompense of joy and serenity that comes with walking in the Lord.

Does this Gospel contain two discourses that are not connected to each other? The first reading shows how the two sentiments are actually intimately linked

In this Sunday’s Gospel we seem to have the juxtaposition of two things that sound completely independent of each other. Jesus says, “If you had faith as large as a mustard seed you could tell this mulberry tree to uproot itself and be replanted in the sea, and it would obey.” Like the disciples, we too often suffer from the condition of having too little faith, of being only partially open to the Lord. But following this description of faith, Jesus seems to digress. He tells of a servant who comes in from the fields and begins to serve his master. The servant does not expect the master to be grateful to him for the work he has done. Once the servant has done his duty then he should say to himself, “We are unprofitable servants. We have done what we were commanded to do”. These two discourses seem so disjointed!However, the first reading from the prophet Habakkuk shows us how the business of being obedient servants to the Lord is actually part and parcel of having faith in the Lord. The reading refers to a situation of injustice and oppression. The prophet cannot bear it any longer and he says to the Lord, “Why do I have to see this ruin and misery?” God replies to him, saying, “The vision that I have shown you does not deceive. Wait and you will see that it is fulfilled. Those who are rash have no integrity, but the just man, because of his faith, will live”. The prophet is scandalized by the destruction all around him, but the Lord tells him of the importance of being able to abandon oneself in service to the Lord and await his intervention.

Having faith in God and being obedient servants of the Lord are the same thing. Trusting God necessarily involves abandoning ourselves to him when the chips are down and all seems lost. Having faith in God is not an easy, passive thing. It involves humble submission in service to him especially at the moment of desperation

The notion of living by the power of faith is one that has aroused much controversy. How are we to understand the statement about telling the mulberry tree to be uprooted and replanted in the sea? Anyone who knows trees will be aware that the mulberry is a majestic tree with an enormous network of roots. What effort it would take to uproot one of these! But Jesus tells us that with faith as large as a mustard seed - in other words, he is referring to the quality of our faith and not its quantity – the mulberry tree would obey. The second discourse, that speaks of the steward who comes in from his work in the field and continues to serve his master, is extremely relevant to this discourse about faith. The steward demonstrates the tenacity of one who places himself before God as a servant pleased to minister to his master. In life there are many enigmas, incredible poverty, much pain. How often we fall into exasperation! Like the prophet Habakkuk we ask ourselves how long we will have to endure this evil that surrounds us and touches us personally. And, as the Lord tells the prophet, the one who does not have an upright soul is in danger of succumbing to this devastation. In order to endure, we must have a soul that places itself before God in the correct manner, obedient to its master, fully conscious that his master has the right to govern him. There is a form of behaviour that might appear passive but is in fact proactive per excellence: and that is to place ourselves before God and entrust ourselves to him with confidence that we will not be disappointed; to serve him right to the end. The mulberry bush will obey us if we obey God. Life becomes fruitful, it one day transforms into something beautiful, but only if we remain with God, abandoning ourselves to him despite the obstacles and desperation that surround us. Often when we are climbing a mountain, especially with young people, we come to a stage where no-one wants to go any further. We have to say, “Keep going, we’re nearly there!” even if it is not quite true. For when we get past the moment of tiredness then we are able to go on and reach the point where we see the beautiful view. In our spirit and soul there is often the point of difficulty where we encounter a wall of internal resistance. This point of crisis exists in our prayer life, and in our efforts at serving others, but once we get past it then we arrive at a stage of balance and joy that marks the response of God to our plight. As the first reading says, “The just one lives by his faith”.

We are asked to humbly place ourselves as servants before God even in times of trial. This is not some sort of moralism. Rather it is the attitude of one who clings tenaciously to his relationship with God. And when we continue to walk with God, we do not deserve to be applauded! The walk itself is its own reward. Once we get past the moment of crisis we enter the stage of joy and serenity, God’s recompense for our faithfulness

How often we find that the “problems” is our lives do not actually get resolved, but we become better people as a result of the fact that we place ourselves in the hands of God through it all. The source of anguish does not go away, but we are changed, we grow more mature, we become adults. This attitude of doing what we have to do is not some sort of moralistic approach to life; rather it is the attitude of one who refuses to abandon his relationship with God. It is the attitude of one who goes beyond the tiredness, beyond the desperation. We all have the experience of holding firm beyond the point of crisis and discovering that things become more beautiful and serene. When it appears that all is lost and it is time to give up, that is the very time to cling fast to our hope. If we think we have already prayed too much, then (unless our spiritual director tells us otherwise) it is essential that we hold on longer and keep praying. We must stay constant in serving God and placing ourselves obediently before him; God will look after our recompense. The fact that we are mere servants does not mean that we are useless. As in the Gospel parable, we are servants who do not get paid because the service that we do is already payment in itself. We experience the joy of continuing to walk with our God, to climb that last stretch of beautiful mountain. The reason I am in these mountains in the first place is to climb them. Tiredness may have overcome me for a moment, and when I manage to pick myself up, I do not deserve to be applauded for continuing to climb and discover the beauty around me. In life, the moment will always arrive when we have to overcome our own state of the soul, overcome our own physical weariness, our fixations, our own notions of how things ought to be done; when we have to continue to move towards God and entrust ourselves to him