First Reading: Habakkuk 1:2-3.2:2-4.
How long, O LORD? I cry for help but you do not listen!
I cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not intervene.
Why do you let me see ruin; why must I look at misery? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and clamorous discord.
Then the LORD answered me and said: Write down the vision Clearly upon the tablets, so that one can read it readily.
For the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint; If it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late.
The rash man has no integrity; but the just man, because of his faith, shall live. Wealth, too, is treacherous: the proud, unstable man--
Why do you let me see ruin; why must I look at misery? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and clamorous discord.
Then the LORD answered me and said: Write down the vision Clearly upon the tablets, so that one can read it readily.
For the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint; If it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late.
The rash man has no integrity; but the just man, because of his faith, shall live. Wealth, too, is treacherous: the proud, unstable man--
Ps 95(94):1-2.6-7.8-9.
Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
Let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
Let us joyfully sing psalms to him.
Come, let us bow down in worship;
Let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert,
Where your fathers tempted me;
they tested me though they had seen my works.”
Let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
Let us joyfully sing psalms to him.
Come, let us bow down in worship;
Let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert,
Where your fathers tempted me;
they tested me though they had seen my works.”
2 Tim 1:6-8.13-14.
Beloved: I remind you to stir into flame the gift of
God that you have through the imposition of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and
self-control.
So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, nor of me, a prisoner for his sake; but bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God. Take as your norm the sound words that you heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
Guard this rich trust with the help of the holy Spirit that dwells within us.
So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, nor of me, a prisoner for his sake; but bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God. Take as your norm the sound words that you heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
Guard this rich trust with the help of the holy Spirit that dwells within us.
Luke 17:5-10.
The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our
faith."
The Lord replied, "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.
Who among you would say to your servant who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, 'Come here immediately and take your place at table'?
Wouldn’t he be more likely to say to him, 'Prepare something for me to eat. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink. You can eat and drink when I am finished'?
Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded?
So should it be with you. When you have done all you have been commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.'"
The Lord replied, "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.
Who among you would say to your servant who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, 'Come here immediately and take your place at table'?
Wouldn’t he be more likely to say to him, 'Prepare something for me to eat. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink. You can eat and drink when I am finished'?
Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded?
So should it be with you. When you have done all you have been commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.'"
Commentary of the day :
There were some people in my previous
parish who used to complain that I did not thank them enough for their service
to the church. My reason for not being falsely effusive in my praise as some
priests do is because I didn’t want people to serve to get thanks or even to
expect it. I told them, “I didn’t think you did it for me. I thought you did it
for God..”
Some even expected thanks for turning up! They
are the sort of people Jesus was talking about in today’s Gospel.
We should reaiise that we will not be
rewarded for doing your duty as a Christian. You will only receive a reward of
eternal happiness in Heaven with God for doing more than you were expected.
Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751), Jesuit
Self-abandonment to divine providence
The faith of humble servants and the lowly servant
To find God just as much in small and ordinary things as in great ones is to have a faith that is not ordinary but great and extraordinary. To be satisfied with the present moment is to taste and adore the divine will in everything that confronts one to be suffered or done, in what successively makes up the present moment. Simple souls, through the liveliness of their faith, bow down before God just as much in the most humiliating of states. Nothing hides him from the piercing eye of their faith... Nothing surprises them, nothing dismays them.
Mary was to witness the apostles running away but she will continually remain at the foot of the Cross and will acknowledge her son, however disfigured he is by the spitting and wounds... The life of faith is nothing but a constant pursuit of God through whatever disguises, disfigures or, so to speak, destroys and crushes him. See Mary again, from stable to cross, always finding a God whom everyone else fails to recognize, abandons and persecutes. In the same way souls of faith look beyond a continual sequence of deaths, concealments, shadows and likenesses vying to render God's will unrecognizable. Souls like these pursue and love it even to death on the cross. They know that they always have to leave shadows behind in order to run after this divine sun. From its rising to its setting, whatever the thick, dark clouds concealing it, it enlightens, warms and enkindles faithful hearts who bless, praise and contemplate it.
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