HOMILY FOR THE 27TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR C
THEME: ….but the Just one shall live by his Faith
BY: Fr. Justus Oruma
HOMILY FOR SUNDAY OCTOBER 2 2022
(a) This expression;… “but the just one shall live by his faith” (Hab.2:4) presents Faith already as an instrument for survival in our world today, as described by Habakkuk filled with “violence”, “strife”, “clamorous discord”, “destructions” and “misery” and I add, hopelessness. Only those who have Faith can survive in such a world
(b) It is not as if such a world as described in Habakkuk is only known to our own time. Hebrew 11 describes how the ancients wade with Faith through their own difficult world; beginning with the strife Abel suffered, who now still speaks with his Faith; the ordeals of Enoch, Noah, Sarah, and Abraham. The Holy Script concludes saying that; “all these people are still living by faith even when they died” (Heb.11:13). These people stand before us as examples.
(c) Today, our world is filled with wars, hatred, persecutions, and disappointments. The difficult situations every single individual is facing now requires Faith for the survival of the individual. Faith in God is beyond saying “I believe in God” but expresses itself more in the readiness to witnessing and steadfastness in God like St. Paul, who though in the prison continued to bear witness to the Gospel. This is necessary for without Faith, we begin to sink into the stormy waters like Peter who lost his Faith in the mid-way while walking on the sea with Christ. The mustered seed is seen as the smallest of all the seeds. When the apostles prayed to Jesus today, “increase our Faith” they must have been confronted by some challenges in their world that warranted that plea. It is a sincere prayer asking more strength and more Faith to be able to overcome and when Jesus relied them, “if your Faith were to be little as the mustered seed…” it all indicates that there was no Faith at all in them then to be increased. Sometimes we completely lack in Faith in God, not even a little one to increase, but that is the bane of our life. Without Faith we are lost in the troubles of time, without Faith we are lost in the peace of Heaven, for “without Faith no eye can see God”, (Heb.11:6). We have the need of Faith in all cases to survive. There no one who believes in nothing and still lives. We have every reason to have Faith in God, to believe Him, and to trust Him. We may see disappointments around us, in the Family, in our friends, in the Church and in the Politics run by men; we have at least one point that is ever indubitable and Faithful as expressed in the letter to Timothy, “we may be unfaithful but He is always Faithful” (2Tim.2:13). To lose Faith in God is to lose everything, including one’s life. The power of Faith, (even as little as the mustered seed as expresses in the Gospel today) able to say to the tree; ‘be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you” does not just speak of the wonders of Miracles produced by Faith but more of the energy to work and carry out our daily obligations having Faith in God and believing in what He can do through us, mere servants of His, able to carry out “faithfully” what “we were obliged to do” (as expressed in Lk.17:10). We must believe in God, believe in what we do and ready to bear witness to it in order to live and change our world and life situations. The just shall live by his Faith. We pray to the Lord with the Apostles- Lord, increase our Faith
