20150630 O MAN OF LITTLE FAITH!
Readings at Mass
First reading
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Genesis 19:15-29
©
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The angels urged Lot,
‘Come, take your wife and these two daughters of yours, or you will be
overwhelmed in the punishment of the town.’ And as he hesitated, the men took
him by the hand, and his wife and his two daughters, because of the pity the
Lord felt for him. They led him out and left him outside the town.
As they
were leading him out he said, ‘Run for your life. Neither look behind you nor
stop anywhere on the plain. Make for the hills if you would not be
overwhelmed.’ ‘No, I beg you, my lord,’ Lot said to them ‘your servant has won
your favour and you have shown great kindness to me in saving my life. But I
could not reach the hills before this calamity overtook me, and death with it.
The town over there is near enough to flee to, and is a little one. Let me make
for that – is it not little? – and my life will be saved.’ He
answered, ‘I grant you this favour too, and will not destroy the town you speak
of. Hurry, escape to it, for I can do nothing until you reach it.’ That is why
the town is named Zoar.
As the
sun rose over the land and Lot entered Zoar, the Lord rained on Sodom and
Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord. He overthrew these towns and the whole
plain, with all the inhabitants of the towns, and everything that grew there.
But the wife of Lot looked back, and was turned into a pillar of salt.
Rising
early in the morning Abraham went to the place where he had stood before the
Lord, and looking towards Sodom and Gomorrah, and across all the plain, he saw
the smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.
Thus it
was that when God destroyed the towns of the plain, he kept Abraham in mind and
rescued Lot out of disaster when he overwhelmed the towns where Lot lived.
Psalm
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Psalm
25:2-3,9-12 ©
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Your love, O Lord,
is before my eyes.
Examine me, Lord, and
try me;
O test my
heart and my mind,
for your love is
before my eyes
and I
walk according to your truth.
Your love, O Lord,
is before my eyes.
Do not sweep me away
with sinners,
nor my
life with bloodthirsty men
in whose hands are
evil plots,
whose
right hands are filled with gold.
Your love, O Lord,
is before my eyes.
As for me, I walk the
path of perfection.
Redeem me
and show me your mercy.
My foot stands on
level ground:
I will
bless the Lord in the assembly.
Your love, O Lord,
is before my eyes.
Gospel
Acclamation
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Ps147:12,15
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Alleluia, alleluia!
O praise the Lord,
Jerusalem!
He sends out his word
to the earth.
Alleluia!
Or
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Ps129:5
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Alleluia, alleluia!
My soul is waiting
for the Lord,
I count on his word.
Alleluia!
Gospel
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Matthew 8:23-27 ©
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Jesus
got into the boat followed by his disciples. Without warning a storm broke over
the lake, so violent that the waves were breaking right over the boat. But he
was asleep. So they went to him and woke him saying, ‘Save us, Lord, we are
going down!’ And he said to them, ‘Why are you so frightened, you men of little
faith?’ And with that he stood up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and all
was calm again. The men were astounded and said, ‘Whatever kind of man is this?
Even the winds and the sea obey him.’
O MAN
OF LITTLE FAITH!
In the
first reading, we read of the power of faith in having our prayers
answered. Abraham, a man so intimate with God, placed his entire faith in
the mercy of the Lord. In spite of the inevitable destruction that was to
come on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham interceded for the people
living in the cities. Alas, there were not even ten good people in the
city. Nevertheless, God answered the prayer of Abraham by delivering his
nephew, Lot, and his wife from the disasters awaiting them. God sent His
angels to warn them of the impending catastrophe.
If God
were so merciful to Abraham, it was because he was a man not only of faith but
a man who interceded selflessly for others. In spite of the quarrels he
and his workmen had with Lot and his workers, Abraham only thought of their
safety and well being. He did not hold any grudges against them.
Because he held no anger or resentment against them, the Lord acceded to the
request of Abraham to at least save his relatives. Faith in the Lord,
confidence in Him and living a life of contentment and forgiveness are keys to
effective prayer, especially intercessory prayer. Indeed, Psalm 24:3f says, “Who shall go up to the mountain
of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? The clean of hands
and pure of heart, whose heart is not set on vanities.”
But how
many of us share the same intimacy of Abraham with God? How many of us
have his depth of faith in Him? The truth is that we do not have such
deep faith and confidence in God as Abraham did. That is why he is called
the Father of Faith in the bible. We are only children in faith, or
rather, infantile in our faith. Should we be surprised? Even Jesus’
intimate disciples did not have such faith initially, in spite of being with
Jesus all day. No wonder Jesus called them, “Men of little faith!” Should
we then despair because we cannot surrender and trust God the way Abraham did?
We
should not be too hard on ourselves if we are unable to give that utter faith
to God, a faith that can move mountains. God is also pleased with our
little faith. He is not so unreasonable that He would not wait for us to
grow up and increase in our faith. He perfectly understands our struggle
in trusting Him. After all, even in human relationships, it takes time to
win the trust of someone whom we love, or to trust someone who likes us. The
failure of many relationships is due to the impatience of building a
relationship gradually, moving from strength to strength. Many beautiful
relationships start well, but couples are impatient in love. Before they
can strengthen their emotional bonds with each other, sharing their hearts and
minds, they have already surrendered their bodies to each other, often
resulting in insecurity, suspicion, mistrust and misunderstanding, because they
do not yet know each other enough to trust the partner completely.
Relationships, which require trust take time, years in fact, to build and to be
strengthened. But of course, no relationship can grow unless we take the
first step to trust in the person we love. And through time, we grow in mutual
understanding; sensitivity to each other’s likes and dislikes, strengths and
weaknesses. In this way, faith and trust in each other become stronger.
And
truly, God will wait for us too. He showed His patience for us when He
sent His angels to lead Lot and his family out of the town where they
lived. This was in spite of Lot’s hesitation. The angels even “took
him by the hand, and his wife and his two daughters, because of the pity the
Lord felt for him. They led him out and left him outside the town.”
Most probably, the thought of leaving all his property and wealth behind made
it difficult for him to abandon his home. This is true in many disasters
today. In most cases, warnings of an imminent earthquake or volcano
eruption, typhoon, hurricane or Tsunami were given. But the inhabitants
did not want to leave for fear of losing their livelihood and all the things
they had accumulated over the years. Because of their attachment and
vacillation, they were killed when the natural disaster struck. Such is
the mercy of God.
Even
after being led out, Lot again doubted the power of God to save him. Once
again, he appealed to the Lord’s indulgence. Lot said, “The town over
there is near enough to flee to, and is a little one. Let me make for
that – is it not little? – and my life will be saved.” Amazingly, this
merciful God granted him his request. So we have an instance of Lot who
lacked faith and confidence in the Lord, yet the Lord still answered his
request.
Indeed,
many of us, instead of surrendering our life to God, are like Lot, not running
for our lives but always looking back and hesitating in doing the Lord’s will.
We keep on doubting His love for us. We question His wisdom. We
want to do our own will. When trials and opposition set in, we give up so
easily without a fight. We cannot even tolerate a little suffering,
occasional setbacks and failures; the human frailties of our fellowmen or even
of ourselves. What is worse, we become resentful of God! We give up faith
in Him.
This,
too, was the case of the disciples of Jesus in the gospel. They were
facing a violent storm and the boat was about to sink. Apparently, they
thought that Jesus was indifferent to their fears and anxieties. They
forgot that Jesus had earlier on cured so many who were sick and delivered
those possessed by the devils. Yet, after having seen Jesus’ power over
illnesses, suffering and death, they still did not trust Jesus sufficiently
that He would protect His disciples from all dangers. When they in panic
turned to Jesus and woke Him up saying “Save us, Lord, we are going down!”, the
reply of Jesus was one of assurance and yet a challenge to them: “Why are you
so frightened, you men of little faith?’ And with that he rebuked the
winds and the seas; and all was calm again.”
The
lesson we can learn from the disciples in the storm is that the Lord is always
watching over us, even when He appears to be indifferent to our plight.
Such occasions are meant to help us to deepen our faith in Him, as in the
case of the disciples. Otherwise, greater disasters will await us.
Although God wants to save us all, if we do not at least give Him some
confidence, He cannot help us because He does not force His love on us.
All He asks of us is a little faith and from that small seed of faith, He will
bring it to fruition and maturity. Only faith in Jesus as our Lord and
Saviour can help us to tide over the storms of life without becoming
overwhelmed. We need not be under the bondage of the Devil, whether it is
our addiction to drugs, alcohol, sex, greed and anger, if we allow Jesus to
calm the storms of life for us.
Unfortunately,
Lot’s wife did not surrender even that little faith the Lord asked of
her. She was disobedient over a simple instruction not to look back. “But
Lot’s wife looked back, and was turned into a pillar of salt.” Whoever
looks back will be like her as well. When we do not let go of those
things in life that cause us misery, such as gambling, womanizing, drinking and
cheating, we will eventually turn into a pillar of salt, because we would be
full of anger, resentment, hatred and disillusioned with ourselves and everyone
else.
So let
us give that little faith to Jesus. That is all He is asking of us.
Let the Lord lead us by His hand as He did with Lot. When we are afraid,
then Jesus says, “Remember, It is I.” We must wake up to the presence of
Jesus in our lives. When we give Him that seed of faith, He will produce
wonders and miracles in our lives. After which, our faith will grow from
strength to strength. So it is all right that we do not have faith in
Jesus completely. But we must seek to trust Him more and more. When
Jesus told the father of the boy suffering from epileptic demoniac, “Everything
is possible for one who has faith.” We read, “At once the father of the
boy cried out, ‘I have faith. Help my lack of faith!’” (Mk 9:24f). And Jesus did by casting out
the evil spirit from his son. We can be certain that after witnessing
what Jesus did, his faith certainly would have grown stronger and deeper.
So let us learn from him. In truth and sincerity, we must tell Jesus the
same thing, “I have faith. Help my lack of faith.”
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh
Roman
Catholic Archbishop of Singapore
© All Rights Reserved
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