FAITH:
ALL OF THE ABOVE
The title of my homily for this 27 Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, is, "Faith: All of the Above."
Once upon
a time at a convention of leaders of spirituality from all over the world, a
panel of 5 wise people were asked this basic question, “When you hear the word
`faith’, what does it mean to you? In other words, how would you describe
faith?”
The
audience of about 1,000 people sat back and began to wonder and reflect on just
what these wise persons would say about faith.
The wise
man from the north began, “Faith is a vision. It’s a clear point like a compass
point. The person of faith knows where he or she is headed. The person of faith
knows where to put the next foot. It’s like knowing what harbor one is headed
for. As we go across the sea of life, we run into storms from time to time.
Accidents happen. People hurt us or we hurt people. Relationships crumble.
People die. Well, the person of faith makes it through these storms, precisely
because they have faith. The person of faith can deal with the ups and downs of
life, because he or she has a confidence and a clarity on just where they are
headed. The person of faith might make mistakes, might get lost at times, but
they keep on trying to get back on course because they know where they are
headed. And as they get older and wiser they make many more efforts to prevent
things from throwing them off course or have their vision blurred.”
The wise
man from the south spoke next, “I see faith a little bit differently. I see faith
as something delicate. It’s a gift that we get from God and family and Church
and others. It’s like someone handing us a lighted candle, so that it will be
much easier for us as we make our way down the dark corridor of life. We need
light, otherwise we’re going to crash into the wall. However, we must remember
that we can lose faith. There is no guarantee that the flame won’t go out. We
have to bring extra candles, extra matches, or to go with others who know the
way. We have to watch out for the rain or winds and sudden drafts. So when it
comes to faith, one has to be very careful. A person can lose their faith. So I
see faith as the gift of a lighted candle handed to us to help guide us through
the dark moments of life.”
The wise
person from the west spoke next. She said, “I see faith not as something
delicate, but as something very strong and very basic. Faith is the very ground
we stand on. Faith is the bed rock of all of life. Faith is like a rich deposit
of gold buried beneath the earth that we are standing on. Without faith one
can’t get out of bed in the morning.”
She
paused for a moment of silence to let that sink in. Then she went on, “Faith
then is the very ground we are standing on. It’s holy ground. Most of the time
it’s so secure that we don’t even notice it. We don’t stop and think that this
earth is actually spinning. Everything looks still. Earthquakes are rare. We
don’t stop to reflect on the many things we take for granted. We trust. We have
faith in the people we live with - most of the time. We have faith in the water
we drink, the food we eat, the air we breathe, that is, till there is a food
tampering or someone poisons the well or blows up a 757 airplane.”
The
audience became quieter. The wise person from the West went on, “We already are
people of faith. We are people of trust. We go through life trusting much more
than we realize. We’re standing on the shoulders of our parents and our
ancestors. They have given us so much: language, inventions, customs, culture,
values, etc. We grow up trusting that the electricity is there when we turn on
the light in the night and that the alarm will wake us up in the morning.
Without realizing it then, we are standing on our past. We’re standing on a
rich deposit of faith that has taken millions of years to evolve. Right now
this planet is somewhat safe, provided our generation or future generations
give it a rest and don’t further destroy it. And I’m not just talking about
destroying the ecology. I’m also talking about destroying people. Each of us
needs to ask, `Am I contributing to the good of all or to the destruction of it
all? And I building faith or destroying faith - faith in God, neighbor, self,
creation?” Or as the question was phrased in the 1960’s, `Am I part of the
problem or part of the solution?’”
The wise
person from the east waited a while and then said, “I see faith as a seed,
that is, good seed as opposed to bad seed. Faith needs to be planted in the
soil of a person early on and at the right time. If we are lazy or not careful,
many other things can start to take root and begin to grow in our souls. So
it’s important that we have good family life. Each generation needs to pass on
to the next generation the deepest values of life: that God creates us and
sustains us, that God loves us and calls us to love one another and that we are
called to be one people. Faith then is good seed. It needs to be nurtured. So
we need good homes, good friends, good places of worship. Each of us needs to
be a good farmer. We need to keep an eye on what’s growing in our soil and the
people around us. A farmer needs to cooperate with the soil and the weather and
the land, trusting that God will give the increase.”
The last
wise person was from the center. She said, “I see faith as all of the above.
But I would add that faith is only real when it shows up in service, that is,
in love of our neighbor. Faith without works is dead. Talk is cheap. We vote
with our feet. So servants, put on your aprons and start preparing meals for
other people, especially the poor.”
Today’s
readings contain all of the above. If you read them carefully, you’ll see those
5 basic ideas about faith that I mentioned in the opening story:
3) Faith as a Rich Deposit
In
today’s first reading Habakkuk talks about faith as a vision. We don’t know the
date of the book of Habakkuk. Some date it around 600 B.C. But if we look at
today’s first reading reflectively, we can see that it touches on feelings that
we all have. We are going along smoothly through life and then things turn
nasty. We become miserable and sometimes violent. We cry out in prayer for help
and the Lord doesn’t seem to be listening. Habakkuk felt that, but it seems
that the Lord eventually did answer. Habakkuk was given a vision. He wrote it
down. And he tells us to learn how to wait. The vision will come. It’s presence
will not disappoint us. If there is a delay, wait. It will arrive and we will
then know what our life is all about and what we should do. The vision is the
gift of faith. And today’s first reading from Habakkuk ends with one of the
most frequently quoted verses from the Bible, “The just man (person), because
of his faith, shall live.”
The
reading from 2 Timothy gives us the second and third ideas of faith that we
heard in the opening story: Faith as Light and Faith as a Rich Deposit. Paul
writing from prison urges Timothy and us not only to keep the light of faith
burning, but to stir it into a flame. The Greek word for “stir into flame”
could also be translated as, “to rekindle” or “to agitate” or “to fan the
flame”. The key idea then is to realize that faith is a gift, a rich deposit
that has been handed down to us. Moreover, we need to guard it, keep it
burning, and what’s more, to “fan its flame.”
The
gospel gives us the last two ideas about faith from the opening story: Faith as
a Seed and Faith as Service. The gospel begins with the apostles asking the
Lord, “Increase our faith.” And Jesus tells them that if they had faith the
size of a mustard seed they can work wonders. Here in Luke 17 Jesus says you
would be able to move a sycamore tree. In Matthew 17 Jesus says they would be
able to move a mountain. Whatever it is that we want to move, we must begin
with a prayer for faith and then the faith to make the move.
Today’s
gospel then looks at the question of being a servant. This message has a bite
to it. We rather not hear it. We prefer Jesus’ words from John, “I no longer
call you servants, but friends.” (Jn. 15:15) We rather have him wash our feet
or at least sit us at table with him. In a restaurant, wouldn’t we rather be
the one being served than the one serving? (Lk. 22:27) Yet service is what it’s
all about. Jesus ends today’s gospel with these words, “When you have done all
you have been commanded to do, say, `We are useless servants. We have done no
more than our duty.’” How many of us can say that we have even got to the stage
of doing all that we have been commanded to do?
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
The
practical applications from all this are many, but let us limit ourselves to
three points put in the form of three questions:
2) Have I ever prayed for
more faith?
3) Where do I need more faith
in my life?
FIRST QUESTION: WHAT IS MY FAITH?
When we
go to the hospital or when we have to fill out forms, sometimes we are asked,
“What is your faith?” And we answer, “Catholic” or “Roman Catholic.”
Sometimes
it’s good when we come to church or when we are alone, for example, going to
and from work, to take some time out to examine “What is my faith?”
Everyone
has a faith. Everyone has a religion. Everyone, those who go to church and
those who say they believe in nothing, have basic deep down beliefs. No one is
an atheist. Either God is their God or they or something or someone else is
their god - the core belief around which we wrap our life.
What are
the guiding assumptions of our life? Who comes first? Do we watch out for the other guy? When the
platter of roast beef is passed to us, do we take the best piece or do we think
of the next person? What are we after?
In his
book, Diary of a Country Priest, George Bernanos wrote, “Faith is not a
thing one `loses’; we merely cease to shape our lives by it.” So it is a good
idea to ask, “What are the forces and the values that are shaping my life? What
is my faith?”
SECOND QUESTION: HAVE I EVER PRAYED FOR MORE
FAITH?
Today’s
gospel begins with a great prayer for faith, “Increase our faith.” Have you ever gone to the Lord and made a
prayer like that? When you are going home from work or when you’re walking the
dog, take your rosary and say on each bead, “Lord, increase our faith.”
THIRD QUESTION: WHERE DO I NEED MORE FAITH
IN YOUR LIFE?
What are
the trees in your life that need to be uprooted? What are the mountains that
need to be moved? Where do you feel that you have hit a dead end or a wall
without a door? That’s where you need faith. That’s where you need a vision,
because there are people on the other side of that wall that need your service.
There are people on the other side of that mountain that need your love. Isn’t
service the reason why we need faith? Isn’t service the reason why God created
us? Jesus came not to be served but to serve. Isn’t that the vision and the
calling of every person?
Someone
once said, “We need an abounding faith that will cut all the t’s off all those
`Can’ts’ and make them into `Can’s’”
I can do
it. I can serve. I can be a person of faith. I can do all of the above.
* This is a Homily I wrote years ago for Markings, a homilectic service that from the Thomas More Association. I'm on vacation, but I wanted to put a Sunday Homily on my blog.
