Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C 2022

Title

Do You Trust Me?

Outline

God is constantly calling us to trust him

This is true despite a world that does not trust anyone, particularly anyone in authority

In the 60’s and 70’s the saying was, “Do not trust anyone over 30” - they were established authorities that would lead one down a garden path

Now institutions, including churches, are high on the “do not trust” list. Instead, one trusts oneself and labels the declarations of popes, prelates, governing authorities, business leaders, scientists, and experts of every kind “false news” or “power grabs” if they do not align with one’s own gut feelings. Reason and evidence, as Ulrich Lehner has shown, have gone out the window, for there are no accepted standards by which to validate evidence and slogans have replaced reason. True is what is true to me.

Note that I pointed out that this goes back to when my generation was in high school and college - it is not new, for even that is the fruition of what Nietzsche and Sartre taught.

But God constantly calls us to faith, that is, to trust him and what he reveals and communicates. And this is difficult.

Habakuk found it difficult because God did fit his timing

He looked around and cried out violence - the violence of injustice in the city and land, the violence of invading armies - this sounds familiar

God tells him to write the vision of God’s justice down “for its appointed time” but does not tell him when that time will come. “If it delays, wait for it.” But he leaves delay undefined. “It will come, it will not be late.” Yet only God defines what “late” means.

That leaves Habakuk with sheer trust: “the just one who is righteous because of faith shall live.” This one is righteous because he or she trusts me.

There is the objectively true. God will fulfill his promises. And God says, “Trust me, live according to that trust, and it will give you life at that time that only I know.”

Now Timothy has also heard something from God

This is the “form of sound words” that came to him through Paul.

He is to: “Guard this rich trust with the help of the holy Spirit that dwells within us.”

The Holy Spirit had gifted Timothy with the ability to communicate that truth, and he is not “a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control.” Not a spirit of doubt and turning back, but living like Jesus with a confidence that looks absurd to the world around him.

Notice here also enduring trust is required with the length of time to fulfillment not being specified - perhaps it is after death, since Jesus has been raised.

Finally, Jesus sums it up

In Luke he has been talking about events or faith that could make us stumble from our trust. And he has said that the one who causes someone to stumble will get a grave retribution. However, the disciples are not to take retribution into their own hands, but rather forgive, release it to God - the implication is that God would deal with it in his own time.

In this context the apostles themselves say, “Increase our faith!” We would might say, “Increase our trust in you so that we can wait it out doing as you said.” Jesus responds, “It only has to be actually existing faith or trust - small but real like a grain of mustard seed.” His illustration is that of saying the impossible to a tree - be uprooted and planted in the sea - presumably because God said to make this command. It would happen. Had the Twelve not already seen miracles happen when they trusted and obeyed the directives of Jesus? Notice that this does not have to do with our will, but with following the will of the Lord.

Then comes an illustration of deferred reward: the slave comes from the field, having done their duty, and is asked to do another duty. Doing one’s duty does not have an “end by” date on it. And that is true whether the duty is moral virtue or prophetic proclamation. So rather than expecting immediate reward, “When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’ ”

Sisters waiting is difficult and trusting is hard

We want to say, “I have left all and followed you. What will I receive - and I mean receive soon?”

We want to say, “I have prayed about, perhaps even proclaimed about evil - you must act soon.”

We want to say, “You must act, for we need your protection.”

And God says, “Where is your faith, your trust?” You turned it over to me, good, now wait until I determine the time. He says, “Wait in trust whether your health is good or bad, whether Putin actually uses the nuclear weapons he threatened to us or not, whether abortions end or do not end, whether the Priory stands for hundreds of years or whether like the religious in the French Revolution you had a date with the guillotine and the Priory becomes a ruin.”

Wait; I have it in hand; do what I tell you without regard to the immediate results; trust me - you know what I said. Keep on, do not stumble or give up.

Of all the things we are called to, enduring trust may be the hardest.

Readings

Catholic Daily Readings 10-2-2022: Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

FIRST READING

Habakkuk 1:2–3, 2:2–4

2 How long, O LORD, must I cry for help

and you do not listen?

Or cry out to you, “Violence!”

and you do not intervene?

3 Why do you let me see iniquity?

why do you simply gaze at evil?

Destruction and violence are before me;

there is strife and discord.

2 Then the LORD answered me and said:

Write down the vision;

Make it plain upon tablets,

so that the one who reads it may run.

3 For the vision is a witness for the appointed time,

a testimony to the end; it will not disappoint.

If it delays, wait for it,

it will surely come, it will not be late.

4 See, the rash have no integrity;

but the just one who is righteous because of faith shall live.

Catholic Daily Readings 10-2-2022: Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

RESPONSE

Psalm 95:8

8 Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah,

as on the day of Massah in the desert.

PSALM

Psalm 95:1–2, 6–9

1 Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;

cry out to the rock of our salvation.

2 Let us come before him with a song of praise,

joyfully sing out our psalms.

6 Enter, let us bow down in worship;

let us kneel before the LORD who made us.

7 For he is our God,

we are the people he shepherds,

the sheep in his hands.

Oh, that today you would hear his voice:

8 Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah,

as on the day of Massah in the desert.

9 There your ancestors tested me;

they tried me though they had seen my works.

Catholic Daily Readings 10-2-2022: Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

SECOND READING

2 Timothy 1:6–8, 13–14

6 For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands. 7 For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control. 8 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.

13 Take as your norm the sound words that you heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14 Guard this rich trust with the help of the holy Spirit that dwells within us.

Catholic Daily Readings 10-2-2022: Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

1 Peter 1:25

25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.”

This is the word that has been proclaimed to you.

GOSPEL

Luke 17:5–10

5 And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” 6 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.

7 “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’? 8 Would he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink. You may eat and drink when I am finished’? 9 Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded? 10 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.’ ”

Notes

Catholic Daily Readings 10-2-2022: Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2022 | ORDINARY TIME

TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

YEAR C | ROMAN MISSAL | LECTIONARY

First Reading Habakkuk 1:2–3, 2:2–4

Response Psalm 95:8

Psalm Psalm 95:1–2, 6–9

Second Reading 2 Timothy 1:6–8, 13–14

Gospel Acclamation 1 Peter 1:25

Gospel Luke 17:5–10

GREEN