20170704
O MAN OF LITTLE FAITH!
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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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.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 25(26):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.
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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!
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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!
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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!
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ GN 19:15-29; MT 8:23-27]
In the first
reading, we read of the power of faith in our prayers being 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 having been
with Jesus all that while. 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 struggles 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 to do 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 setback and failure; 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
devil. Yet, after having seen Jesus’ power over illnesses, suffering and
death, they still did not trust Jesus sufficiently that He would protect them
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 or 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 disillusionment 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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