The God who Accompanies: The Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

 The God who Accompanies

The Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

October 2, 2022

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Habakkuk 1:2-3, 2:2-4; Psalm 95; 2 Timothy 1:6-14; Luke 17:5-10

 

          The readings bring out two aspects of discipleship that are often asked of priest of spiritual directors. They are ‘how can I pray better’ and ‘how can I increase my faith.’ The prophet Habakkuk is frustrated because his prayers and that of the people are not being heard and they are experiencing a silent God. In the Gospel, Jesus tells his followers that their faith and trust in God’s power needs to be increased so they act in greater confidence. These are serious questions because they get to the heart of one’s relationship with God, and most people want to live in right relationship with God and want to learn of God’s personal will for themselves. At the heart of the question is whether we see God as interventionist or one who respects free will. 

 

          Scripture tells us that God intervened in human history many times. The Old Testament is replete with the people experiencing God’s care or abandonment of them, and often they attributed God’s lack of care and protection due to their turning away from God or because of bad behavior. We think similarly. We think that if I have done something morally bad or harmful then we deserve to be punished or to face fitting consequences. They often attributed God’s blessings to them because of their good behavior or God’s favor, and they received a mercy they did not deserve, but for which they were grateful. It caused them to be more faithful because if they remained in a healthy relationship with God, then God would remain present to them. 

 

          We have instances in the bible to show God’s intervention: Noah’s flood, the great Passover, miracles and healings, the incarnation, and the wonder working of Jesus of Nazareth. The Israelites, through their faith, attributed God’s wonder when they kept the laws and acted rightly. The early church experienced the power of the Spirit working through Jesus and especially through the presence of the risen Christ. In the history of the church, leaders have attributed miracles through the power of one’s faith and the intercession of saints and holy ones.

 

          Yet, for some, God does not intervene, and we are left wondering why, and then we begin to question whether God really does intervene in daily life at all these days. What we do experience, however, is that does dwell within us and accompanies as a characteristic of God. In the Old Testament, God always desired to dwell among the people; in the Passover that became our Eucharist, the people celebrated God’s abiding presence; in the New Testament, God abided by Jesus and was present to the people in the Kingdom on earth; in post-resurrection stories, God abides by the Emmaus disciples and the early church as they began to live out the kingdom of heaven on earth. A pervading characteristic of God has always been to dwell with and accompany us. Human history tells us that God stands with us in solidarity. 

 

Perhaps our personal and intercessory prayers begin to change if we pray to this God who abides and accompanies, rather than waiting for God to intervene. When we allow ourselves to experience the God who dwells within us with the God that dwells in all creation, we see ourselves aligned with the universe, and we come to know that God is intimately a part of us. God loves and does not forget or cease to love what God creates. We dwell within the mystery of God and an encounter with God teaches us to live with an ultimate or sacred responsibility to life. 

 

Scripture for Daily Mass

 

First Reading: 

 

Monday: (Galatians 1) I am amazed that you are so quickly forsaking the one who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel (not that there is another). But there are some who are disturbing you and wish to pervert the Gospel of Christ. 

 

Tuesday: (Galatians 1) You heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how I persecuted the Church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it, and progressed in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my race, since I was even more a zealot for my ancestral traditions.

 

Wednesday: (Galatians 2) After fourteen years I again went up to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also. I went up in accord with a revelation, and I presented to them the Gospel that I preach to the Gentiles–but privately to those of repute–so that I might not be running, or have run, in vain.

 

Thursday: (Galatians 3) O stupid Galatians! Who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? I want to learn only this from you: did you receive the Spirit from works of the law, or from faith in what you heard? Are you so stupid? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?

Friday (Galatians 3) Realize that it is those who have faith who are children of Abraham. Scripture, which saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith,
foretold the good news to Abraham, saying, Through you shall all the nations be blessed.

 

Saturday (Galatian 3) Before faith came, we were held in custody under law,
confined for the faith that was to be revealed. Consequently, the law was our disciplinarian for Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a disciplinarian.

Gospel: 

 

Monday: (Luke 10) He replied to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.” But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho.

 

Tuesday: (Luke 11) Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished,
one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples."

 

Wednesday (Luke 9) "Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head." And to another he said, "Follow me." 
But he replied, "Lord, let me go first and bury my father."

 

Thursday (Luke 11) Jesus said to his disciples: “Suppose one of you has a friend to whom he goes at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer him,’ and he says in reply from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked.

 

Friday (Luke 11) When Jesus had driven out a demon, some of the crowd said: “By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he drives out demons.” Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven.

 

Saturday (Luke 11) “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed.” He replied, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”

 

Saints of the Week

 

October 2: The Guardian Angels are messengers and intermediaries between God and humans. They help us in our struggle against evil and they serve as guardians, the feast we celebrate today. Raphael is one of the guardians written about in the Book of Tobit. A memorial was added to the Roman calendar In 1670 in thanksgiving for their assistance.

 

October 3: Francis Borgia, S.J. became a duke at age 33. When his wife died and his eight children were grown, he joined the Jesuits. His preaching brought many people to the church and when he served as Superior General, the Society increased dramatically in Spain and Portugal. He established many missions in the new territories. 

 

October 4: Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) was from the wealthy Bernardone family who sold silk cloths. After serving as soldier as a prisoner of war, Francis chose to serve God and the poor. He felt called to repair God's house, which he thought was a church. His father was angry that he used family money so he disinherited him. He began to preach repentance and recruited others to his way of life. His order is known for poverty, simplicity, humble service, and delighting in creation.

 

October 6: Bruno, priest (1030-1101), became a professor at Rheims and diocesan chancellor. He gave up his riches and began to live as a hermit with six other men. They had disdain for the rampant clerical corruption. The bishop of Grenoble gave them land in the Chartreuse mountains and they began the first Carthusian monastery. After serving in Rome for a few years, Bruno was given permission to found a second monastery in Calabria.

 

October 7: Our Lady of the Rosary recalls the events in 1571 of the Christian naval victory over the Turks at Lepanto near Corinth. Victory was credited to Mary as confraternities prayed the rosary for her intercession. 

 

This Week in Jesuit History

 

• October 2, 1964. Fr. General Janssens suffered a stroke and died three days later. During his generalate, the Society grew from 53 to 85 provinces, and from 28,839 to 35,968 members. 
• October 3, 1901. In France, religious persecution broke out afresh with the passing of Waldeck Rousseau's "Loi d'Association." 
• October 4, 1820. In Rome, great troubles arose before and during the Twentieth General Congregation, caused by Fr. Petrucci's intrigues. He sought to wreck the Society and was deposed from his office as Vicar General, though supported by Cardinal della Genga (afterwards Leo XII). 
• October 5, 1981. In a letter to Father General Arrupe, Pope John Paul II appointed Paolo Dezza as his personal delegate to govern the Society of Jesus, with Fr. Pittau as coadjutor. 
• October 6, 1773. In London, Dr James Talbot, the Vicar Apostolic, promulgated the Brief of Suppression and sent copies to Maryland and Pennsylvania. 
• October 7, 1819. The death of Charles Emmanuel IV. He had been King of Sardinia and Piedmont. He abdicated in 1802 and entered the Jesuits as a brother in 1815. He is buried in San Andrea Quirinale in Rome. 
• October 8, 1871. The Great Chicago Fire. Most of the city was destroyed, but it missed Holy Family, the Jesuit parish, as the fire turned north thanks to the prayers of Fr. Arnold Damen. The fire lasted three days; 250 were killed.