LEAP OF FAITH

Readings for October 6, 2013

27^th Sunday in Ordinary Time 

IS-27 ĦADD MATUL IS-SENA

Messalin   C pp 410

Reading 1       -      HaBBakuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4

How long, O LORD? I cry for help but you do not listen! I cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not intervene.Why do you let me see ruin; why must I look at misery? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and clamorous discord. 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 one has no integrity; but the just one, because of his faith, shall live. This is the Word of The Lord.

L-Ewwel Lezzjoni  -  Profeta Ħabbakuk  1, 2-3; 2, 2-4

Mulej, kemm se ndum nokrob għall-għajnuna u int ma tismax, jew ngħajjat: "Vjolenza!" u int ma ssalvax? Għaliex turini l-ħażen, u inti toqgħod tħares lejn l-ħtija? Quddiemi qerda u vjolenza, hemm it-tilwin, u l-ġlied dejjem jiżdied. Imbagħad il-Mulej wieġeb u qalli:"Ikteb id-dehra, onqoxha fuq tavlozzi, hekk li jkun jista' jħaffef min jaqraha, Għax id-dehra sseħħ meta jkun waqtha, tistenna sa ma ttemm, u ma tqarraqx. Jekk hija ddum ma tasal, int stennieha, għax tiġi żgur, ma tiddawwarx ma tasal! Arah jinfena min mhux ruħu sewwa, iżda l-ġust igħix bil-fedelta' tiegħu.      Il-Kelma tal-Mulej

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Responsorial Psalm   -    PSalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9

R. (8) If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to him.                                        R/

Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides. R/

Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
"Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert,
Where your fathers tempted me;
they tested me though they had seen my works."                  R/

Salm Responsorjali    -  Salm 94 (95)

            R/   Isimgħu leħen il-Mulej, u twebbsux qalbkom.

Ejjew, ħa nfaħħru bl-hena l-Mulej,

ħa ngħajtu bil-ferħ lill-blata tas-salvazzjoni tagħna!

Nersqu quddiemu  b'għana ta' radd il-ħajr,

ngħannulu b'għajjat ta' ferħ.                                                       R/

Ejjew inqimuħ u ninxteħtu quddiemu,

għarkupptejna quddiem il-Mulej li ħalaqna!

Għaliex hu Alla tagħna,

u aħna l-poplu tal-mergħa tiegħu u n-nagħaġ tiegħu.                    R/

Mhux li kontra llum tisimgħu leħnu!

 "La twebbsux qalbkom bħal f'Meriba,

bħal dakinhar f'Massa, fid-deżert,

meta ġarrbuni u ttantawni missirijietkom,

għalkemm raw dak li jien għamilt.                                              R/

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Reading 2       -     2 TiMothy 1:6-8, 13-14

Beloved:  I remind you, to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through  the imposition of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control. So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, nor of me, a prisoner for his sake; but bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God. Take as your norm the sound words that you heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard this rich trust with the help of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.   This is the Word of The Lord.

It-Tieni Lezzjoni   -   -Tieni Ittra lil Timotju.                       

Għażiż, infakkrek biex tqajjem fik id-don ta' Alla, li jinsab fik bit-tqegħid ta' jdejja, għax Alla ma taniex spirtu ta' biża', imma Spirtu ta' qawwa, ta' mħabba u ta' rażan. Mela tistħi xejn minħabba fix-xhieda għal Sidna, anqas minħabba fija, priġunier tiegħu, imma aqsam miegħi t-tbatija għall-Evanġelju, u afda fil-qawwa ta' Alla. Żomm quddiem għajnejk l-eżempju tat-tagħlim sħiħ li smajt mingħandi,  fil-fidi u fl-imħabba li huma fi Kristu Ġesu. Ħares bl-għajnuna tal-Ispirtu s-Santu li jgħammar fina t-teżor sabiħ li kien fdat f'idejk. Il-Kelma tal-Mulej

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Gospel             -           LuKe 17:5-10

The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith." The Lord replied,"If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.  "Who among you would say to your servant who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, 'Come here immediately and take your place at table'? Would he not rather say to him, 'Prepare something for me to eat. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink. You may eat and drink when I am finished'?  Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded? So should it be with you. When you have done all you have been commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants;  we have done what we were obliged to do.'"   This is the Word of The Lord.

L-Evanġelju  -   Luqa 17, 5-10

F'dak  iż-żmien, l-appostli  qalu lill-Mulej: "Kattar fina l-fidi!"  Weġibhom il-Mulej: "Kieku kellkom fidi mqar daqs żerriegħa tal-mustarda, kontu tgħidu lil din is-siġra tat-tut:  "Inqala' u mur tħawwel fil-baħar,"  u hi kienet tisma' minnkom.Wieħed minnkom  ikollu qaddej qiegħed jarħrat jew  jirgħa; meta jidħol mill-għalqa x'se jgħidlu:|  "Ejja, isa, u oqgħod għall-ikel"?  jew:  "Lestili x'niekol, ilbes il-fardal u newwilli sa ma niekol u  nixrob jien, u mbagħad tiekol u  tixrob int"?     Jaqaw se jroddlu ħajr lill-qaddej talli jkun għamel li ordnalu?  Hekk  ukoll intom, meta tagħmlu kulma tkunu ordnati, għidu:  "Aħna qaddejja li ma niswew  għal xejn:  għamilna biss dak li kellna nagħmlu."  Il-Kelma tal-Mulej

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COMMENTARY:

Father Cantalamessa on the Leap of Faith

-              Here is a translation of a commentary by the Pontifical Household preacher, Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, on the readings from this Sunday's liturgy.

Increase Our Faith

This Sunday's Gospel begins with the apostles asking Jesus: "Increase our faith!"

Instead of satisfying their desire, Jesus seems to want to make it grow further. He says: "If you had faith the size of a mustard seed ..."

Without a doubt, faith is the dominant theme this Sunday. We hear about it also in the first reading, in the celebrated line of Habakkuk, taken up again by St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans: "The just shall live by faith" (1:17).

Faith has a few different meanings. This time I would like to reflect on the more common and elementary understanding of faith: believing or not believing in God.

This is not the faith by which one decides whether one is Catholic or Protestant, Christian or Muslim, but the faith by which one decides whether one is a believer or a nonbeliever, believer or atheist. A Scripture text says: "Those who come to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him" (Hebrews 11:6). This is the first step of faith, without it, we cannot take the other steps.

To speak of faith in such a general way we cannot base ourselves only on the Bible since it only has validity for Christians and, in part, for Jews, but not for anyone else. It is fortunate for us that God wrote two "books": One is the Bible, the other is creation. The one is composed of letters and words, the other of things.

Not everyone knows or is able to read the book of Scripture; but everyone, from every place and culture, can read the book of creation. "The heavens tell of the glory of God and the firmament declares the work of his hands" (Psalm 19:2). Paul writes: "Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made" (Romans 1:20).

It is urgent that we show how unfounded the opinion is that says that science has already liquidated the problem and exhaustively explained the world without any need to invoke the idea of a reality beyond it called God. In a certain sense, today science brings us closer to faith in a creator than in the past.

Let us consider the famous theory that explains the origin of the universe with the "big bang," the great explosion at the beginning. In a billionth of a billionth of a second, we go from one situation in which there is not yet anything, neither space nor time, to a situation in which time has begun, space exists, and, in an infinitesimal particle of matter, there is already, in potency, the whole subsequent universe of billions of galaxies, as we know it today.

One could say: "There is no sense in asking about what there was before that instant, because there is no 'before,' when time does not exist."

But I say: "How can we not ask that question!"
"Trying to go back behind the history of the cosmos," it will be said, "is like going through the pages of a large book starting at the end. Once we arrive at the beginning we see that the first page is missing."

I believe biblical revelation has something to tell us precisely about this first page. Science cannot be asked to declare on this "first page," which is outside time, but neither must science close the circle, making everyone think that everything is resolved.

There is no pretense of "demonstrating" God's existence, in the common understanding of this term. Here below we see as through a mirror, says St. Paul.

When a ray of light enters into a room, it is not the ray of light itself that is seen, but the dance of the dust that receives and reveals the light. It is the same with God: We do not see him directly, but as in a reflection, in the dance of things. This explains why God is not reached without the "leap" of faith.                                                     

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