by Fr. Tommy Lane
“The road of life was bright
It stretched before my sight.
The Lord was at my side
to be my friend and guide.
And so I started out.
“But then the sky grew dark,
and the road grew steep and stark.
Rocks and ruts cut my feet.
My legs grew sore and weak.
I scarce could travel on.
“I turned and cried ‘My Lord!
Why this pain; why this plight?
Why these ruts; why these rocks?
Why this darkness? Where’s the light?
I cannot carry on.’
“The Lord replied, ‘My child!
Why this fear; why this fright?
Where’s your faith? Where’s your trust?
Love chose this road for you.”
Just as in that poem, sometimes it doesn’t take much to deflect us off our course. There are times when we all doubt. When something goes wrong we say God doesn’t care or God is gone on holidays or ‘Does God exist at all?’ In our first reading the prophet Habakkuk cried out to God, ‘How long, Lord, am I to cry for help while you will not listen?’ In our Gospel the apostles asked Jesus, ‘Increase our faith’. What answer did they both get? God said to Habakkuk at the end of our first reading, ‘the upright man will live by his faithfulness’. And in our Gospel did Jesus increase his apostles’ faith? No. He said, “Were your 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.” We already have all the faith we need. We already have enough faith to say to a tree to be uprooted and planted in the sea. In other words, we already have enough faith to help us overcome life’s problems. Instead it is a question of drawing on the gift of faith that we already possess. We are sons and daughters of God but what a pity it is that we don’t allow this faith to have more of an effect in our lives.
We struggle when we need not struggle, We are afraid when we need not be afraid, we are discouraged when we need not be discouraged. And all because we do not use the little bit of faith we have and trust in God to make things come out right. The Christian missionary and doctor David Livingstone - when he was working his way through the swamps of Africa almost a century ago began one time to worry about how he would cross a certain stream the next day. He knew that to cross that stream meant almost certain death. He wrote this in his journal,
“Felt much turmoil of spirit in view of having all my plans for this great
region and teeming population knocked on the head by savages who live beyond the
river. But I read that Jesus came and said “All power in heaven and on earth
is given unto me, go and teach all nations, and lo, I am with you always, even
unto the end of the world.” So I will not cross the stream furtively by night,
as I intended. It would appear as flight - and should such a man as I flee?”
Too many of us look at ourselves instead of God. We look at ourselves and we say - I can’t do it. I am not strong enough, wise enough, loving enough, giving enough, I do not have the money, the power, or the faith to succeed at what I am doing. And that is completely true - we are not able. We do not have what it takes when it comes to dealing with what is truly important. But God does. But we can allow God to work through our weakness. And sometimes too when we look at the Church, or listen to journalists’ comments, we see only the negative. But the Church is also mystical and God is with the Church to the end of time. Paul said he was given a thorn in the flesh and three times he pleaded with God for it to be removed but the word from God to him was, ‘My grace is enough for you: for power is at full strength in weakness.’ (2 Cor 12:9) He also said, ‘There is nothing I cannot do in the One who strengthens me’ (Phil 4:13). ‘If God is for us who can be against us?’ (Rom 8:31). The words of Paul to Timothy in our second reading are very beautiful. He is saying to them, ‘Don’t look at yourselves, look at what God has given you, get up and do something.’ ‘I am reminding you to fan into a flame the gift that God gave you when I laid my hands on you. God’s gift was not a spirit of timidity but the Spirit of power and love and self-control. Habakkuk cried out to God, ‘How long, O Lord, am I to cry to help while you will not listen?’ The apostles asked Jesus for more faith and he said, “Were your 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.”
“The road of life was bright
It stretched before my sight.
The Lord was at my side
to be my friend and guide.
And so I started out.
“But then the sky grew dark,
and the road grew steep and stark.
Rocks and ruts cut my feet.
My legs grew sore and weak.
I scarce could travel on.
“I turned and cried ‘My Lord!
Why this pain; why this plight?
Why these ruts; why these rocks?
Why this darkness? Where’s the light?
I cannot carry on.’
“The Lord replied, ‘My child!
Why this fear; why this fright?
Where’s your faith? Where’s your trust?
Love chose this road for you.”
This homily was delivered when I was engaged in parish ministry in Ireland before joining the faculty of Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, Emmitsburg, Maryland.
More homilies for the Twenty-Seventh Sunday Year C
The Upright One will live by Faith
Commentary: humble servant excerpt of Enjoying the Bible
on Gen 2
excerpt Enjoying Paul and Old Testament
October - Respect Life Month