29th. Sunday of Year (C)
(Exodus 17:8-13; 2 Timothy 3:14 –
4:2; Luke 18:1-8)
On looking at our three readings for today’s celebration the
most striking passage for me is also the last, those mysterious words of Our
Blessed Lord which, enigmatic as they are, can serve as the key to interpret
all the rest:
When the Son
of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?
Faith, that is, in Himself, the Son of God made man for our
salvation: The Son of God Who, through the Immaculate Virgin and by the power
of the Holy Spirit, willed to assume our flesh so that, as Son of Man, He might
be able to take upon Himself the burden -- but not the guilt -- of our sins, making
an atonement in which He would suffer and die on the Cross of Calvary before, on
the third day, rising from the dead in bodily glory and ascending back to His
Father in heaven for our salvation.
Jesus was surrounded by questioning voices on the occasion of
our Gospel reading:
Asked by the Pharisees when the
kingdom of God would come, he said in reply, “The coming of the kingdom of God
cannot be observed, and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it
is.’ For behold, the kingdom of God is among you.” (17:20-21)
The disciples said to Him, “Where,
Lord?” He said to them, “Where the body is, there also the vultures will
gather.” (17:37)
‘When?’, ‘where?’, also, no doubt, ‘how?’ How often was Our Lord tormented by a
multitude of inquisitive and distracted observers, sardonic and critical
opponents, as well as some few humble seekers, trusting followers, possibly
committed disciples! Now, somewhat
wearied, Jesus simply says, almost sotto
voce to Himself:
When the Son
of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?
Let us now look at our readings to
find out what help they can give us to appreciate, protect, and hopefully develop
our faith in Jesus, our abiding Glory and sure Shield, on Whom are fixed all
our hopes and aspirations, in Whom our complete trust and confidence rest secure.
In our first reading we heard that:
Moses, said to Joshua, “Pick out
certain men, and tomorrow go out and engage Amalek in battle. I will be
standing on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.”
The battle was long and hard, going now this way and next the
other; and since Moses was old he became seriously tired, whereupon:
They put a rock in place for Moses to
sit on, while Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the
other, so that his hands remained steady till sunset.
Looking at Moses we can see prayer losing its ease and
probably some of its fervour, but, what we most certainly need to clearly recognize
in Moses and re-discover for ourselves today, is his unflinching and unyielding
appreciation of the absolute necessity and ultimate efficacy of the prayer to which
he was committed. At this crucial
juncture Moses’ prayer was, indeed, far from easy, time was dragging on and pressing
down hard upon him, but it was, as Moses could see, saving prayer. Looking on the battle raging below him
between the children of Israel under Joshua and the pagan tribe of Amalek he
was forced to forget himself, to humble himself, and to trust God through
‘thick and thin’, as the prospect of victory switched again and again from one side
to the other, from the marauding, pagan, nomads of the southern desert land to
God’s ‘chosen people’ under Joshua.
When
the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?
Yes -- Mother Church who has juxtaposed today’s readings
assures us -- Jesus will find the faith He expects in all who will to pray like
Moses, in all who are earnestly looking for, and are seriously willing to
suffer for, the well-being of God’s People and the advancement of God’s
purposes and glory, rather than supinely allow themselves to become alarmed at,
or be dissuaded by, the opposition of others or the personal experience of
difficulty or distress.
This understanding is
confirmed when we recall that St. Luke explicitly tells us, Jesus told His
parable in today’s Gospel so that:
Men always ought to pray and not lose
heart. (Luke
18:1 NKJV)
Was it because of the danger of such weariness overwhelming
some – many? – of His disciples, then, now, and in the future, that Jesus went
on to say:
When
the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?
Our Blessed Lord, therefore, told the parable of the unjust
judge and the persistent widow to encourage ‘men’ to pray, and to strengthen
them for perseverance; and yet, immediately, so that it seems almost to
be part of the parable, He says aloud, or ‘sotto voce’:
When
the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?
It would seem quite certain that Jesus was acutely aware of
the threat to mankind’s redemption and salvation posed by worldly dissipation
and distraction, self-love and faint-heartedness.
Our first two scriptural readings today certainly fit in with
such an interpretation; for faith in Jesus as Son of God and Son of Man,
conqueror of Death and Lord of Life, our Saviour, totally true, loving, and
sure, proclaims and demands that despite whatever may threaten us from within
our own selves or from without, we can never be forced, nor should ever allow
ourselves, to yield to weariness or despair.
Let us now turn our attention to the second reading from
Paul’s pastoral letter to Timothy his
protégé:
Remain
faithful to what you have learned and believed!
Those words can be regarded as another example of St. Paul’s
remarkable fidelity, not only to Our Lord’s Gospel teaching but also to His
Personal pre-occupations and desires.
Let us find out how Paul would back-up the teaching and
encouragement of Jesus’ parable.
I charge you in the presence of God
and of Christ Jesus, proclaim the word; (because) all scripture is inspired by
God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for
training in righteousness. (Be) persistent,
whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand (and) encourage,
through all patience and teaching.
‘Proclaim the Word’, that is, proclaim Jesus as the Christ of
God in accordance with the Scriptures.
Too many ‘supporters’ of Jesus and even some, always too many, priests
think that they have to make Jesus popular; and they aspire to do this ‘good’ by
tampering with -- watering down – aspects of Gospel teaching labelled extreme, and
the so-called inhuman rigidity and ‘objectivity’ of Catholic doctrine; and/or
by trying to make themselves (especially priests, so closely aligned with
Jesus) popular, in the hope that their personal popularity might brush off, so
to speak, on Jesus. Paul, however, had
no sympathy with popularity polls of whatever sort, for he insists that Christ
be authentically preached and proclaimed:
persistently,
whether it is convenient or inconvenient;
neither does he shrink from risking popular abuse and
personal vilification by insisting that Timothy:
convince
(and) reprimand (as well as) encourage,
in order to teach patiently,
which means inevitably, perseveringly.
How many priests today are intimidated by the fear of
appearing to teach! Children, O.K., but
teach adults who may like to think they
already know!!
Yes, I repeat, Mother Church -- who has juxtaposed today’s
readings -- assures us that Jesus will find the faith He expects in all those who,
in accordance with Paul’s advice to his beloved Timothy treasure what has been
handed down to them in Mother Church, will proclaim what they themselves have
experienced, learned, and come to know in accordance with the Scriptures of
Mother Church solely for love of Jesus and the ‘gospel-good’ of those who will
hear them, without fear for themselves or pandering to popular opinion. But always and in all things, with Christian patience
and sincere humility.
There is still one further aspect of Jesus’ final words (or
thoughts) in our Gospel passage: namely that Jesus does not seem to expect what
commonly concerns most Catholics, namely a desire for the Faith’s
popularity. The proclamation of the
Gospel, love for others, does not require, does not even directly involve,
personal popularity, but rather a concern for integrity and humility: integrity
-- at the personal, institutional, and doctrinal levels -- in our proclamation,
preaching and presentation of Jesus; humility in our response to and relations
with those we personally serve or
encounter.
The implications of popularity are widespread and often they are
most harmful to Mother Church, of which we have a quite recent and baleful
manifestation. We have a splendid Pope
in Francis and a splendid pope-emeritus in Benedict, Francis a blessing from
God because of the evangelical simplicity of his following of Jesus, and
Benedict because of His inspiringly beautiful writings on the teaching and
Person of Jesus. Why do some people
think that to praise Francis they must in some way denigrate Benedict??
Dear People of God, let us endeavour to give thanks to God
with wholehearted simplicity for His unfailing goodness and beauty, especially
as we have just been allowed to appreciate something of the wondrous wisdom He
has bestowed on Mother Church as has been evidenced for us in her choice of
texts made to accompany the Gospel for our celebration today.
