Faith Requires Patience and Trust, Too!
by Paulist Fr. Rich Andre
October 2, 2016

27th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Year C 
(Habakkuk 1:2-3, 2:2-4; Psalm 95; 2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14; Luke 17:5-10)
02 October 2016 – St. Austin Parish, Austin, TX



Our first reading today comes from the book of Habukkuk. Of all the Old Testament prophets, he is the only one who has the audacity to put God on trial. As the Babylonian armies bear down to destroy the kingdom of Judah, Habukkuk asks God, “Why are you letting this terrible stuff happen to us?” God responds, “Have patience; I will fulfill my promise.”

Our other readings address a more common occurrence in the life of faith: we ask questions of God, but we can’t immediately determine how – or if – God responds. Jesus calls us to a more mature relationship with God, a relationship built on patience and trust.

Even when God seems to be silent, God continues to grace us with mercy at every moment of our lives. Let’s take a moment to acknowledge that. 

In the verses just before today’s passage, Jesus told the disciples that if someone wronged them seven times in one day and that person asked for forgiveness seven times, they were supposed to forgive the transgressor seven times. No wonder the apostles asked Jesus to increase their faith!

Jesus uses two different analogies to speak about faith today. The first analogy speaks of seeds and trees; the second speaks of masters and servants.

When I first started preaching on a regular basis, I came to appreciate how many of Jesus’ analogies are based on vegetation. About eighteen years ago, Fr. Rick Walsh constructed an amazingly beautiful garden in the backyard of Paulist residence in Knoxville, TN. But after Rick moved, the garden fell upon hard times. It probably reached its worst point when a large tree came crashing down in a hail storm five years ago.  

That next year, I moved in and began trying to restore the garden. By far, the largest tree in the garden is the mulberry tree. It’s humongous, providing shade for a huge swath of our yard. When Jesus says that faith the size of a mustard seed could uproot such a tree, I shake my head in awe. 

But what about the master-servant analogy? If God is the master and we are God’s servants, why do we do what the master asks of us? Is it because we fear that we’ll be punished if we don’t do as we’re told? Or do we do what God asks of us because we know that it’s necessary for our salvation? As we grow in relationship with God, I hope we can move away from being primarily motivated by the threat of hellfire, towards being motivated by the good things that await the people who carry out God’s will!

But like most analogies, this one falls flat. I hope to reach a point in my relationship with God when I’m never motivated by threats or benefits. I dream of being solely motivated to do God’s will because of my love for Jesus Christ. My motivation shouldn’t be based on God’s judgment. It should be based on God’s love for me! Such a relationship requires me to trust in God, whether or not I understand why God is asking me to do certain things.

But if you read the lives of the saints, you’ll find some sobering news: the more we trust God, it seems as if God will ask more of us. For example, I’d love to stay as an associate pastor forever – it’s the best job in the world – but I realize that some day, the Paulists and the people we serve will probably need me to take on a harder, less glamorous job. So, naturally, there’s a part of me that doesn’t want God to push me out of my comfort zone. When the time comes, I hope that I’ll be able to pray this prayer by Charles de Foucauld:

Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will.

Whatever you may do, I thank you: I am ready for all, I accept all.

Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures.

I wish no more than this, O Lord. Into your hands I commend my soul; 

I offer it to you with all the love of my heart, for I love you, Lord,

and so need to give myself, to surrender myself into your hands, 

without reserve, and with boundless confidence, for you are my Father. 

It’s a beautiful prayer, but it’s also kind of scary. When the time comes, will I have sufficiently grown in my relationship with God to trust God completely? Will I have faith sufficient to uproot a mulberry tree?

Maybe uprooting a mulberry tree isn’t as daunting a task as it sounds. You see, until five years ago, there were two large trees in the Paulists’ backyard in Knoxville, and they were both mulberry trees. When the hailstorm uprooted one of our mulberry trees, it completely transformed the landscape. After a year of working on the garden, I could admire its beauty from my bedroom window. It was then that I realized that if that mulberry tree hadn’t fallen, there probably wouldn’t be as much life in our backyard: the sunlit open spaces, the colorful blooms, the flitting birds and butterflies. The mulberry tree has proven to me, once again, that after every death, there is a resurrection.

At this moment in your life, perhaps it seems as if armies are beating down your door. If you’re struggling to accomplish what you feel God is calling you to do, remember that faith requires patience and trust, too. God said to Habukkuk: “The vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint. It if delays, wait for it.” May we have the faith to respond as Habukkuk eventually does: “For though the fig tree blossom not / nor fruit be on the vines, / though the yield of the olive fail / and the terraces produce no nourishment… yet will I rejoice in the LORD!”