30-Sep-2013 Dear Friend,
We know from experience that when we have faith in someone we are ready to trust that person. To be believers is to trust in God! But often we put terms and conditions to our faith. Our faith is weak and conditional. In this Year of faith we are asked to exercise our faith and trust in God more and more. Even the little faith we have can work miracles if we let God take over! Have a faith-filled trusting weekend! Fr. Jude Sunday Ref. 27th Sun. of the Year: "We do not need more faith. But have faith like a mustard seed and act on it!" 6-Oct-2013 Readings: Habakkuk 1: 2-3; 2: 2-4; 2 Timothy 1: 6-8, 13-14; Luke 17: 5-10; The Prophet Habakkuk, a contemporary of Jeremiah wants to know why God the all-pure, the all-holy allows Israel to suffer at the hands of the unholy pagans. Why is it that sinners prosper while the just are made to suffer? - A question that is relevant today as well! God's answer: that no power can overcome the faithful person, is valid today as well. Habakkuk had the great event of the Exodus to remind him and the Israelites that God is the 'Rock', he saves his people. All we have to do is trust and be faithful to Him even when he appears to be silent. Mountain moving faith An old woman regularly read the Bible before retiring at night. One day she came across the passage that said: "If you have faith as little as a mustard seed and ask the mountain to go away, it will go." She decided to test the efficacy of the passage. There was a hillock behind her house. She commanded the hillock to go away from there and went to bed. In the morning she got up as usual and remembered her command to the hillock. She wore her spectacles and peered through the window. The hillock was there. Then she muttered to herself, "Ah! That's what I thought." - What she thought was that the mountain would not move. While her outer mind gave the command, her inner mind was convinced that she was giving a futile order. She did not have even an atom of faith! G. Francis Xavier in 'The World's best inspiring stories' In today's gospel Jesus has two lessons to give us about living our lives in troubled times. Firstly he tells his disciples and us to grow and increase our faith in Him. The second message that Jesus gives us is that we should live our lives in humble service believing and trusting that God is at work and needs us to do our part in fulfilling His plan in the world today. To drive the message of faith he says: "If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea and it would obey you!" What is the point Jesus is making? We know that a mulberry tree is known for its deep roots. And it is very difficult to uproot it. Besides how can you plant a tree in the sea? Evidently Jesus is telling us that what is impossible for us is not impossible for God. If we hold on in faith and let God take over our lives, the impossible will become possible for us. Just as the power of the seed does not depend on its size but on the hidden life within it, so the power of faith depends not on its quantity but on its quality. With faith we may not be able to literally move mountains, but we will have power to overcome obstacles, to do great things for the Lord in this world. The gospel concludes with a reminder that when all is said and done, God does not depend on our works but on our faith in Him. So when we are frustrated that things do not change in spite of our efforts, we must hold on and hand it over to God. God is at work, No matter how bleak the picture, God's power can and will, make it right. I believe… At the end of World War II, it is reported, the Allied soldiers were searching farm houses for snipers. In one abandoned house, which was almost a heap of rubble, they had to use their flashlights to get to the basement. On the crumbling wall, they spotted a Star of David. It had obviously been scratched by a victim of the Jewish Holocaust. And beneath it was the following message in clear but rough lettering: "I believe in the sun -even when it does not shine. I believe in love - even when it is not shown. I believe in God - even when he does not speak." -Like the Holocaust victim who had inscribed those uplifting words on the basement wall, Mother Teresa 'believed in the sun-even when it did not shine. She believed in love -even when it was not shown. And she believed in God -even when God did not speak. In her secret and personal letters Mother Teresa revealed that for almost 50 years, she went through what is best described as 'the dark night of the soul', driving her to doubt the existence of heaven and even God. Said a Jesuit priest, Fr. James Martin, "I have never read a saint's life where the saint has had such an intense spiritual darkness. No one knew she was that tormented." Like all of us, Mother Teresa was but human. And it is only natural that we, like her, will experience times of doubt, loneliness, dryness and even denial. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe! James Valladares in 'Your Words O Lord, are Spirit, and They are Life' Be careful in whom you place your trust! Before modern radio and television became so sophisticated, a telephone operator used to get a call every afternoon asking for the correct time. She was always able to give this information with great confidence. The reason for this was that she always checked her watch, and adjusted it when needed, when the whistle blew for the closing time in the local factory. One day her watch stopped. The telephone rang inquiring for the correct time. She explained her predicament. Her watch had stopped, and she had no way of ascertaining the correct time until the factory whistle sounded some time later. The caller then explained his predicament. He was calling today, as he had done every other day, from the same local factory, and he had always adjusted his clock, when necessary, to agree with whatever time it was in the telephone exchange. -Be careful in whom you place your trust! Jack McArdle in 'And that's the Gospel truth' Mustard-seed Faith You have heard of Dorothy Day, a woman many considered a living saint. Many admirers came to visit her, to have a look at her, to cherish her, to speak to her, to touch her, if possible. Sometimes they would tell her, "You are a saint," or she would overhear others saying of her, "She is a saint." She would get upset, turn to the speaker, and say, "Don't say that. Don't make it too easy for yourself. Don't escape this way. I know why you are saying, 'she is a saint.' You say that to convince yourself that you are different from me, that I am different from you. I am not a saint. I am like you. You could do what I do. You don't need any more than you have; get kicking, please." -A mustard seed is very tiny; there is a chance of losing it if it is not handled carefully. Likewise, faith; if it is not handled carefully there is a chance of losing it. We have to feed faith. Do not despise small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin. (Zachariah 4:10) Let us look at the Bible. Against a towering giant, a brook pebble seems futile. But God used it to topple Goliath. Compared to the tithes of the wealthy, a widow's coins seem puny. But Jesus used them to inspire us. Moses had a staff. David had a sling. Samson had a jawbone. Rahab had a string. Mary had some ointment. Dorcas had a needle. All were used by God. John Pichappilly in 'The Table of the Word' Pavarotti: My Own Story Not since the legendary Caruso has another opera personality had such charisma as tenor Luciano Pavarotti. In his autobiography, Pavarotti: My Own Story, he describes how he was trained by a great master, Arrigo Pola. "Everything Pola asked me to do, I did, -day after day, blindly. For six months we did nothing but vocalize and work on vowels." Pavarotti worked hard under Pola for two and a half years and then worked just as hard under Maestro Ettore Campogalliani for another five years. Finally after putting so much faith and trust in his mentors, Pavarotti made a breakthrough at a concert in Salsomaggiore where he thrilled the audience and was catapulted into fame. This story about faith and trust leads us into today's readings which focus on the same themes. As Luciano Pavarotti put his trust in his master teacher, we too must put our trust in our mentor Jesus Christ. Albert Cylwicki in 'His Word Resounds' May we believe in Him even when there is every reason not to!! Fr. Jude Botelho [email protected] PS. The stories, incidents and anecdotes used in the reflections have been collected over the years from books as well as from sources over the net and from e-mails received. Every effort is made to acknowledge authors whenever possible. If you send in stories or illustrations I would be grateful if you could quote the source as well so that they can be acknowledged if used in these reflections. These reflections are also available on my Web site www.NetForLife.net Thank you.
