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| "St. Dominic" by Claudio Coello,1691 |
Reading 1: Habakkuk 1:12—2:4
Are you not from eternity, O Lord,
my holy God, immortal?
O Lord, you have marked him for judgment,
O Rock, you have readied him punishment!
Too pure are your eyes to look upon evil,
and the sight of misery you cannot endure.
Why, then, do you gaze on the faithless in silence
while the wicked man devours
one more just than himself?
You have made man like the fish of the sea,
like creeping things without a ruler.
He brings them all up with his hook,
he hauls them away with his net,
He gathers them in his seine;
and so he rejoices and exults.
Therefore he sacrifices to his net,
and burns incense to his seine;
for thanks to them his portion is generous,
and his repast sumptuous.
Shall he, then, keep on brandishing his sword
to slay peoples without mercy?
I will stand at my guard post,
and station myself upon the rampart,
And keep watch to see what he will say to me,
and what answer he will give to my complaint.
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.
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Commentary on Hb 1:12—2:4
The Prophet Habakkuk, in his oracle, Recognizes that the Hebrew people have fallen from God’s grace. He complains against the social abuses taking place in Judah before King Nebuchadnezzar of the Chaldean empire came to invade the region (including Jerusalem) as a perceived instrument of God’s punishment. The prophet is lamenting the Diaspora, the dispersal and enslavement of the Hebrews by its neighbors.
The prophet vents his confusion over, not the punishment that God has handed down, but the instrument with which he chose to do so. “Why, then, do you gaze on the faithless in silence while the wicked man devours one more just than himself?” He uses the analogy of the fishermen who rejoice in killing the fish to describe the merciless methods of King Nebuchadnezzar’s invading armies. The final verse is one of encouragement to those taken into slavery to hold fast to the faith, for it shall save them.
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 9:8-9, 10-11, 12-13
R. (11b) You forsake not those who seek you, O Lord.
The Lord sits enthroned forever;
he has set up his throne for judgment.
He judges the world with justice;
he governs the peoples with equity.
R. You forsake not those who seek you, O Lord.
The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of distress.
They trust in you who cherish your name,
for you forsake not those who seek you, O Lord.
R. You forsake not those who seek you, O Lord.
Sing praise to the Lord enthroned in Zion
proclaim among the nations his deeds;
For the avenger of blood has remembered;
he has not forgotten the cry of the poor.
R. You forsake not those who seek you, O Lord.
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Commentary on Ps 9:8-9, 10-11, 12-13
The psalm addresses loosely connected themes, the rescue of the helpless poor from their enemies, God's worldwide judgment and his kingship over the nations.
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Gospel: Matthew 17:14-20
A man came up to Jesus, knelt down before him, and said,
“Lord, have pity on my son, who is a lunatic and suffers severely;
often he falls into fire, and often into water.
I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.”
Jesus said in reply,
“O faithless and perverse generation, how long will I be with you?
How long will I endure you?
Bring the boy here to me.”
Jesus rebuked him and the demon came out of him,
and from that hour the boy was cured.
Then the disciples approached Jesus in private and said,
“Why could we not drive it out?”
He said to them, “Because of your little faith.
Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed,
you will say to this mountain,
‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move.
Nothing will be impossible for you.”
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Commentary on Mt 17:14-20
"This episode of the curing of the boy shows both Christ's omnipotence and the power of prayer full of faith. Because of his deep union with Christ, a Christian shares, through faith, in God's own omnipotence, to such an extent that Jesus actually says on another occasion, "he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father" (John 14:12)."[4]
This story of the possessed boy is a shortened version of the story from St. Mark’s Gospel (Mark 9:17-27). Here there is little background given and the focus instead is on lack of faith. Jesus' comments, directed to the disciples, indicate their faith was insufficient to drive out the demon and the speech envisions a time when they may be able to “move mountains” with stronger faith.
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Reflection:
Heavenly Father, we humbly pray that those suffering from the coronavirus be returned quickly to full health by the power of your Son’s healing presence, and those in fear be calmed through the Holy Spirit.
In Christ’s name we pray. – Amen.
There is an old saying “The more you know, the more you know you don’t know.” As we listen to Jesus and see in this passage from St. Matthew’s Gospel how he takes the disciples to task, we kind of despair. Will we ever get to the point where Jesus expects us to be? As we envision the story of the encounter between Jesus and the man with the son who is mentally ill (it sounds strange hearing the Bible call him a lunatic- not PC) we sense the frustration in the Lord. At this stage in their development it seems clear that Jesus expects his students to be able to handle such encounters with illness and possession.
When the man comes to him and explains that the disciples were unable to help him, Jesus is frustrated. He says in a surprising way; “O faithless and perverse generation, how long will I be with you?” The usually patient Messiah sounds almost like a father whose child comes and asks for help with their homework after that parent has spent a long time teaching them how to do the work; or the parent of an adult child who is asked for help once too often.
When the disciples come to Jesus after he has cured the boy, he tells them that the reason they could not help the boy was they did not have faith. The point being made is clear. With faith all things are possible. That theme has been consistent throughout sacred scripture. However, we are like the person who is forced to walk across a bridge. When the bridge is wide and substantial, we can cross confidently. But when the bridge is just a narrow plank with no hand holds we become frightened and cannot cross. In reality, the plank may have been the same width as that part of the bridge we walked across, but the idea that we could fall prevented us from moving forward.
If we use that analogy and take it further we may see where scripture is taking us. Let’s ask how does one get the courage to walk across a plank suspended above a significant drop? They start with the plank on the ground walk across it and once they are confident, gradually raise it until it is high in the air. That is the way high-wire artists train. They start small and, with lots of regular practice they move it higher and higher.
For us the faith must be the same. We start small, with prayers and actions we know we can take. But we push ourselves. We pray longer and harder, we hand more and more to God so that his peace becomes part of us.
Our prayer today is that through our discipline of faith we may increase that which is so freely given and constantly seek to emulate Christ so our faith may accomplish his will among all we meet.
In this strange year where many of us will not be able to receive the Blessed Sacrament or celebrate as a community in our houses of worship, we must be prepared to receive spiritual communion in prayer:
My Jesus,
I believe that You
are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.
I love You above all things,
and I desire to receive You into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment
receive You sacramentally,
come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You.
Amen.
Pax
[1] The picture is "St. Dominic" by Claudio Coello,1691.
[3] The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[4] The Navarre Bible, “Gospels and Acts”, Scepter Publishers, Princeton , NJ
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