Daily Readings August 11, 2012

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Memorial of Saint Clare, virgin
Lectionary: 412

Reading 1 Hab 1:12-2:4

We begin reading the book of the Prophet Habakkuk.  Habakkuk may be considered a minor prophet, but his book tackles the most difficult of questions.  Questions with which we wrestle to this day. And he directs them to God, Himself.  And God responds.   

You might want to familiarize yourself with the book.  Intro and First and Second Chapters.

Are you not from eternity, O LORD,
my holy God, immortal?

The Prophet is questioning God's omnipotence.  He seems almost frustrated to me as he asks, "Aren't YOU immortal?  If you read the previous 12 verses before this question, you see that he has just asked God why the wicked seem to always oppress the just.  He is asking, "Where are you?  And if you are there and as mighty as you claim, why don't you do something about this?"

He is asking this question, even though God has assured him that He will send the Babylonians to punish the wicked Jews.

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 silencewhile the wicked man devoursone more just than himself?

Again, another pointed and poignant question.  If God, you are as loving and kind as you claim, how can you remain in silence when you see the wicked devour the just man?

You have made man like the fish of the sea,like creeping things without a ruler.

The next verses are a bit difficult to follow.  First, he compares men to the fish of the sea.  But then it seems that he is subtly comparing the wicked to fishermen who ensnare men in their hooks and in their nets (i.e. seine).

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;

And then wicked man rejoices over the just men whom he has ensnared and made profit from their misery.

for thanks to them his portion is generous,and his repast sumptuous.

Because the wicked man profits from their misery.

Shall he, then, keep on brandishing his swordto slay peoples without mercy?

Then he asks God again, will you permit the wicked to continue to kill the just 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.

This is a short narrative to us.  The Prophet says to us, "Let's see what God has to say about that.  I'll wait here and give you an update as soon as He gets back to me."

Then the LORD answered me and said:

Our Lord did not delay in responding.

Write down the visionClearly upon the tablets,so that one can read it readily.

He said, "OK, are you ready, write this down so that everyone can read."

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.

He says, "I will show you everything in a vision.  But you must write it down because the vision will take its time in fulfillment.  But it will be fulfilled in its due time.  Wait and see."

The rash man has no integrity;but the just man, because of his faith, shall live.

God continues, "the rash or wicked man, has no moral character.  But the just man shall live because he is faithful to Me."  Essentially, God is telling Habakkuk that he must have faith and be patient.

You should go on and read the third chapter because Habakkuk's prayer in response is awesome.  He was completely humbled by the vision which God gave him.  In the end, he says, even though I suffer and see nothing which appears to be good, I will rejoice in God my Saviour.

I think this is the message which Jesus came to give us by example, as St. Peter so aptly explains:

1 Peter 2:21
New International Version (NIV)
²¹ To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you,leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 9:8-9, 10-11, 12-13

Response. (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.

The Psalm tells us that God has not forsaken us, no matter if we feel that we are oppressed.  That is when He is closest to us.  Therefore, we should always turn to the Lord.

Gospel Mt 17:14-20

I suppose all parents feel the way I do about these episodes when parents bring their children to Christ for healing.  It is by our faith that our children are healed when we bring them to Jesus for baptism.  Therefore, we had better believe in His awesome power to wash away sins.

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.

A man pleads with Jesus, on his knees, to have pity on his son.

I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him."

The man says that he brought them to the disciples but they were powerless.

Jesus said in reply,
"O faithless and perverse generation, how long will I be with you?
How long will I endure you?

Jesus rebukes someone, but I'm not sure if it is the father or the disciples.

Bring the boy here to me."Jesus rebuked him and the demon came out of him,and from that hour the boy was cured.

Jesus quickly cast the demon out of the boy.

Then the disciples approached Jesus in private and said,"Why could we not drive it out?"

Then the disciples came and asked Jesus what went wrong.

He said to them, "Because of your little faith.

Now, it seems from this response, that Jesus had rebuked the disciples.  Because He said that the reason they could not cast the demon out was because of their lack of 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."

And Jesus said, even if you had a little faith, nothing would be impossible to you.

I've got a little story for you.  When I was a little boy, this verse got me in trouble.  My grandmother was a devout woman and one day she showed me a little tiny seed.  Whether it was a mustard seed, I don't know.  But she said that if I had faith as tiny as that seed, I could make a mountain move.

Well, I don't think I was 7 years old yet and I took the message to heart.  We lived right next to what we called a mountain.  In fact, two.  So, I said, "Well, I know I've got that much faith.  But I'm not going to make things too hard for God."  I picked the smaller of the two "mountains".  The one which we called a "mesa" and I said, "Move!"  Nothing.  So I said it again, "Move!"  Still nothing.

"Ok, then,"  I said, "Lets see if the clouds will move."  It was a windless day and the clouds seemed to be sitting perfectly still.  So I picked one and told it to move over to another part of the sky.  Nothing.

That little episode planted seeds of doubt in my mind.  And many years later, I became an atheist.  Of course, that's not the end of the story or I wouldn't be here reading Scripture with you.  Many years later, after I had reverted back to the Catholic Church, I was walking with my children on the big mountain and I pointed out a hospital where the little mountain "used to be!"  And suddenly the memory flooded back.  The mountain was moved.  I remember when it happened.  I was much older, in high school and it was bull dozed down a little bit at a time.  But it was removed.

Whether that was the answer to a little boy's prayer, I'll let you decide.  God's ways are far above ours.

Sincerely,

De Maria