by Rev Fr Raymond Raj
Habakkuk 1:2-3,2:2-4
Psalm 94:1-2,6-9
2 Timothy 1:6-8,13-14
Luke 17:5-10
Theme: Be Courageous in Proclaiming Your Faith
Thomas Aquinas, the greatest theologian and philosopher of Middle Age, once he said this:-
To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary.
(Those who have faith, no explanation is needed.)
To one without faith, no explanation is possible.
My dear friends, faith is believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe. So speaking of faith, a little story comes to my mind.
Once a man was walking on a tiny rope, thin rope, while holding a long bamboo stick on top a very high building. To make his walk more thrilling, exciting, he carried his own son on his shoulder while walking on the rope.
Hundreds of people from below were screaming, shouting, watching his stunt. The man was carefully taking one step after the other, battling through the strong wind, risking his own life and also the life of his son.
After a few minutes, the man successfully reached the end point of the rope. So the entire crowd below jumped with joy, clapped their hands and whistled to his performance. So he came down. Hundreds of people gathered around him to take selfie with him and shook hands with him.
So the man took a loud hailer and said, ‘Do you believe I can do this act again? Do you believe I can walk on this rope again? From end to end?’
The crowd shouted, ‘Yes! We believe!’
Again, the man took the loud hailer and asked, ‘Do you have firm faith on me?’
The crowd shouted, ‘Yes, we have faith that you can do this act 100 times again without fail!’
So the man proposed to the crowd, ‘Can someone from this crowd give me your child? I will carry your child on top of my shoulder and walk on this rope again.’
Hearing this, the entire crowd was silent like you today.
Brothers and sisters, priesthood is like walking on this tiny rope. We always pray for more vocation. It is always somebody else’s son must become a priest, not my son. Never because my son is trained in overseas. My son has Master’s, PhD, degree, good job, doctor, lawyer, accountant. It is always somebody else’s son must become a priest, not my son. Because walking on a tiny rope is not easy, my dear friends.
Generally speaking, most of us, most of the people in this world believe in God. Most of us believe in God. The only problem is we don’t have faith. We just believe the existence of God without faith.
In the beginning of today’s Gospel, the disciples requested Jesus to increase their faith. But Jesus in return says, ‘If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, even mountains will obey you.‘
So my dear friends, what is Jesus actually trying to teach you and me today is the amount of faith doesn’t matter. The amount faith does not matter at all. What really matters is the quality of your faith, not the size of your faith. The quality of your faith.
Faith is not a statistic or spreadsheet in Excel. Faith is a solid conviction that God is in control. God is in control.
In today’s rat-race world that you and I live in, faith is no longer cherished. Faith is no longer valued. Faith is taken for granted because you know why?
The world has taught all of us to rely on our own strength. The modern world has taught you and me to rely on Google, rely on AI. If you have any problems in life, just check with AI. Even AI nowadays can talk. Sometimes in my room, I take AI at night and talk to AI. Seriously.
Once I asked the AI, ‘Count from 1 to 1 million. AI, please count from 1 to 1 million.‘
The AI disobeyed me. You try tonight.
Brothers and sisters, in my humble opinion, the more you are addicted to social media, the less faith you have in God. I may be wrong. I may be wrong but from my experience, those who are addicted, all the time with gadgets, have superficial faith. Again, I can be wrong on this.
If you ask me today, my dear friends, what is faith? How will you define faith, Father?
My answer is faith is conviction that God is in control. Period.
From a child myself, now a middle-aged man, soon a senior citizen, I have always believed everything and anything that happens in my life (this is my conviction), anything and everything that happens in my life, God is in control. Good times, bad times, God is in control.
Therefore, if you ask me today, I have no sense of regret, I have no sense of disappointment. Even though I face a lot of challenges in my life, everything that happens in my life, I offer it to God. Because I am convinced God is in control.
So my dear friends, Jesus is not looking for perfect, wholly candidates to enter His kingdom. Jesus is looking for simple and yet faithful believers who does not doubt the glory and greatness of God.
So my message to you today, to each one of you is:-
Put God first. Trust in God.
When you and I trust in God, when we make God our priority, everything else will fall into place. Putting God first in your life will bring clarity, will bring peace, will bring a sense of purpose in all that you do in your life.
So today, in this Holy Mass, we pray for the grace to trust God, to surrender our life into God’s hands.
And I end my sermon today with the words of Saint Paul. Saint Paul says, ‘Without faith, no one can impress God.‘
Amen.
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