The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to adopt the attitude and action of a servant to present our faith in the Love God to the world in which we journey.
The Reading from the Prophet Habakkuk shares Habakkuk’s First Complaint and God’s Response.
* [1:2–4] The prophet complains about God’s apparent disregard for Judah’s internal evils in language that echoes the preaching of prophets like Amos, Isaiah, and Jeremiah.
* [1:4] The law is numb: because the Lord has been silent, the Law, whether in the form of the scroll found in the Temple in the time of Josiah (2 Kgs 22) or in the form of divine instruction given by priests and prophets, has proved ineffective and so appeared to be cold, unreceptive, and powerless. For the Law to be credible, the Lord must see to it that the wicked are punished and the just rewarded. (Habakkuk, CHAPTER 1, n.d.)
* [2:4] The just one who is righteous because of faith shall live: the faithful survive the impending doom because they trust in God’s justice and wait patiently for God to carry it out. Several New Testament passages cite these words (Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11; cf. Heb 10:38) to confirm the teaching that people receive justification and supernatural life through faith in Christ. (Habakkuk, CHAPTER 2, n.d.)
Psalm 95 calls the people to praise and worship God.
* [Psalm 95] Twice the Psalm calls the people to praise and worship God (Ps 95:1–2, 6), the king of all creatures (Ps 95:3–5) and shepherd of the flock (Ps 95:7a, 7b). The last strophe warns the people to be more faithful than were their ancestors in the journey to the promised land (Ps 95:7c–11). This invitation to praise God regularly opens the Church’s official prayer, the Liturgy of the Hours. (Psalms, PSALM 95, n.d.)
The Reading from the Second Letter to Timothy proclaims The Gifts Timothy Has Received.
* [1:6] The gift of God: the grace resulting from the conferral of an ecclesiastical office. The imposition of my hands: see note on 1 Tm 4:14.
* [1:8] Do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord: i.e., of preaching and suffering for the sake of the gospel. (2 Timothy, CHAPTER 1, n.d.)
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus defines a Saying of Faith and exhorts an Attitude of a Servant.
* [17:7–10] These sayings of Jesus, peculiar to Luke, which continue his response to the apostles’ request to increase their faith (Lk 17:5–6), remind them that Christian disciples can make no claim on God’s graciousness; in fulfilling the exacting demands of discipleship, they are only doing their duty. (Luke, CHAPTER 17, n.d.)
Mike Cherney feels the three readings make clear that although we are recipients of God’s gifts, the path that we are on is not that of immediate gratification. All three readings outline the demands on discipleship. Jesus describes the model of the servant. This is very different from the sense of entitlement that pervades our society.
I might describe Justice as getting one’s due, but what is my due? My expectations change when I acknowledge the many gifts that I have received. I consider myself blessed being the recipient of so much more than I feel that I deserve. The Gospel’s reminder of my position as a servant helps me put things in perspective.
Dear Lord,
I often feel that I am the target of marketing that tells me what I want, what opinions I should hold, and what behaviors are acceptable. Like the apostles, I desire more faith, a fire that burns within. Habakkuk reminds me of the need for patience. Jesus reminds me of the path of dutiful service. St. Paul promises the Spirit. Help me to remember these things as I confront my doubts. Allow me to continue to progress knowing that Jesus’ early disciples as well as modern saints, like Mother Theresa, felt that that needed more faith. (Cherney, n.d.)
Don Schwager quotes “To increase faith is to strengthen it by the Holy Spirit,” by Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD).
"They ask, 'Add faith to us.' They do not ask simply for faith, for perhaps you might imagine them to be without faith. They rather ask Christ for an addition to their faith and to be strengthened in faith. Faith partly depends on us and partly is the gift of the divine grace. The beginning of faith depends on us and our maintaining confidence and faith in God with all our power. The confirmation and strength necessary for this comes from the divine grace. For that reason, since all things are possible with God, the Lord says that all things are possible for him who believes (Mark 9:23). The power that comes to us through faith is of God. Knowing this, blessed Paul also says in the first epistle to the Corinthians, 'For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit, and to another faith in the same Spirit' (1 Corinthians 12:8). You see that he has placed faith also in the catalog of spiritual graces. The disciples requested that they might receive this from the Savior, contributing also what was of themselves. By the descent upon them of the Holy Spirit, he granted it to them after the fulfillment of the dispensation. Before the resurrection, their faith was so feeble that they were liable even to the charge of being 'little of faith'." (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILIES 113-16) (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4 comments that God sees all the turmoil, but he also has a vision for the day when his light will triumph. And that vision is unfolding even now as believers bring his healing mercy to a suffering world. Every act of faith, justice, and love brings God’s vision one step closer to completion—and he rejoices to see it!
God also sees you. He sees every way that your faith (even if it seems as small as a “mustard seed”—Luke 17:6) is growing and deepening. He sees your efforts to share his good news and to witness to his salvation.
So let God’s vision for this world fill you with hope! Remember that it “still has its time,” but it will certainly come (Habakkuk 2:3).
“Lord, help me to see this world through your eyes!” (Meditation on Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler notes that the Habakkuk reading is very similar to Job in addressing the question “Why Lord?” So much evil is upon us. The Second Letter to Timothy, likely written in the name of Paul, contains an ecclesiology of an elevated Church. It says Paul is a prisoner for the sake of the faith who encouraged Timothy not to see that as a failure but to use the gifts including laying on of hands to give example. In Luke, the apostles ask for increase of faith and Jesus cites having the faith the size of a mulberry seed. We do not need a perfect faith as we ask Jesus to help our little faith. Jesus reminds the apostles their reward will be in service. In our response to God’s call by loving them we are following the example of God, in image and likeness. Jesus reveals to be Godlike is to serve and love. Friar Jude suggests that when we serve we should feel gratitude for the opportunity to serve.
Fr. Mike Schmitz walks us through the signing of the covenant in Nehemiah 10 and relates Israel’s collective decision to belong to God to our personal encounters with God that inspire us to follow him simply because he has called us. He also offers insight on how God used the physical weakness of Esther to move the king’s heart to gentleness. Today’s readings are Nehemiah 10, Esther 15, 6-7, and Proverbs 21:13-16.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, considers Jesus’ challenging statement that we cannot serve both God and money.
Jesus is absolute about money and power because he knows what we’re going to do. Most of us will serve this god called mammon. Luke’s Gospel even describes mammon as a type of illness, as Jesuit John Haughey explained: “Mammon is not simply a neutral term in Luke. It is not simply money. It connotes disorder…. Mammon becomes then a source of disorder because people allow it to make a claim on them that only God can make.” [1] “Mammon illness” takes over when we witness all of life through the lens of short-term practical gains. We have to acknowledge that money does have the ability to serve—or solve—many of our short-term problems, but once we begin hoarding it, collecting it, multiplying it, and saving it, we become preoccupied with it. Let’s be honest about that.
In this Gospel, I hear Jesus inviting us to think of a long-term solution. To participate in the reign of God, we have to stop counting. We have to stop weighing, measuring, and deserving in order to let the flow of forgiveness and love flow through us. The love of God can’t be doled out by any process whatsoever. We can’t earn it. We can’t lose it. As long as we stay in this world of earning and losing, we’ll live in perpetual resentment, envy, or climbing. (Rohr, n.d.)
We seek the guidance of the Spirit as we wrestle with the sense of entitlement that too often pervades our decisions about the actions we take as we encounter the need to serve our community in faith and love.
References
Cherney, M. (n.d.). Daily Reflection. Creighton Online Ministries: Home. Retrieved October 5, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2025/10/05/1401335/
Habakkuk, CHAPTER 1. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved October 5, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/habakkuk/1?2
Habakkuk, CHAPTER 2. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved October 5, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/habakkuk/2
Luke, CHAPTER 17. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved October 5, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/17?5
Meditation on Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4. (n.d.). Word Among Us. Retrieved October 5, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2025/10/05/1401335/
Psalms, PSALM 95. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved October 5, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/95?1
Rohr, R. (n.d.). Daily Meditations — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved October 5, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/mammon-illness/
Schwager, D. (n.d.). Lord, Increase Our Faith! Daily Scripture Net. Retrieved October 5, 2025, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2025&date=oct5
2 Timothy, CHAPTER 1. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved October 5, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/2timothy/1?6
No comments:
Post a Comment