Key:
What these passages tell us about God
What these passages tell us to do
What these passages tell us not to do
Commentary
Reading 1 HAB 1:12—2:4
Are you not from eternity, O LORD, my holy God, immortal? 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 silence while the wicked man devours one more just than himself? You have made man like the fish of the sea, like creeping things without a ruler. 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; for thanks to them his portion is generous, and his repast sumptuous. Shall he, then, keep on brandishing his sword to slay peoples 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.
Then the LORD answered me and said: Write down the vision Clearly upon the tablets, so that one can read it readily. 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. The rash man has no integrity; but the just man, because of his faith, shall live.
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.
Then the LORD answered me and said: Write down the vision Clearly upon the tablets, so that one can read it readily. 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. The rash man has no integrity; but the just man, because of his faith, shall live.
Responsorial Psalm PS 9:8-9, 10-11, 12-13
R. (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 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.
Alleluia SEE 2 TM 1:10
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Our Savior Jesus Christ has destroyed death and brought life to light through the Gospel.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Our Savior Jesus Christ has destroyed death and brought life to light through the Gospel.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel MT 17:14-20
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. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him."
Jesus said in reply, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long will I be with you? How long will I endure you? Bring the boy here to me." Jesus rebuked him and the demon came out of him, and from that hour the boy was cured.
Then the disciples approached Jesus in private and said, "Why could we not drive it out?"
He said to them, "Because of your little 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."
1. God is faithful, just and loving, and He will not let evil prevail. (first reading, psalm, alleluia verse, gospel).
2. Further, God does have the capability for remedying every possible evil. (first reading, psalm).
3. Sometimes God’s schedule for dealing with evil is slower that we would like. (first reading, gospel).
4. God is not arbitrary; there are reasons why it sometimes takes more time than we would like for evil to be remedied. Sometimes it is lack of faith. (gospel). Sometimes it is to make a broader point or set up broader circumstances that will produce good far exceeding the present evil. Prime examples of this are the delay in pharaoh letting the Hebrews out of bondage, the hardships they suffered before they got to the promised land and—preeminently—Jesus’ passion and death.
5. So how do we deal with the seeming delay?
A. We do not lose faith or abandon our reliance upon God, but instead keep waiting for His healing action. (first reading, gospel).
B. We keep coming to Him, persistently seeking His help and expecting that it will ultimately come, in spite of interim difficulties. (gospel).
C. We are humble in doing so. (gospel).
D. Meditate on, pray over, other scriptures dealing with this dynamic. Check out Psalm 37, Sirach 2, Mark 5:21-43. See also:
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