Twenty-seven Sunday in ordinary time, Luke 17,5-10

Concern for faith (Luke 17:5-10)
Let us pay attention to our faith in a manner appropriate to our age, condition, and other values.

Autumn is the time of year when we not only harvest but also evaluate the harvest. What the weather has done, and what the human factor can do. The next harvest begins in the fall: seed selection, soil preparation, and catching up on ag deadlines. Those who do not underestimate this have the hope that the next harvest will be abundant and will be pleased.
Autumn is also the start of a new school or academic year. Those who are even slightly aware of the importance and need for knowledge do their best to study. To know more, to master is the guarantee of a successful future.

Today is also the time to say to the Lord and the apostles: “Give us more faith” (Lk 17:5)!

Faith is a gift we receive from God without earning it or forcing it. God is not obligated to give us this gift, so we know we are facing a tough nut to crack based on today’s Gospel. Believing in God, trusting in God, is a difficult and by no means easy or uncomplicated matter. On the other hand, the gift of faith may be possessed to a greater extent by a young person who is beginning to use reason and free will than by an older person, possibly with an academic degree.
Archaeologically, research points to the fact that in the beginning, the man was aware of his existence in connection with spiritual beings. In proportion to his philosophy, degree of intelligence, and knowledge of lia fe, a man tried to influence, attract, and incline various deities to his side. At a certain point in history, we can observe that it is not the man who invents deities but God Himself who makes Himself known to man. God acts as the Lord who loves man and even serves and saves man. At first, a man comes to know God as in a riddle, vaguely, unintelligibly, through the Jewish people’s prophets, kings, leaders, and teachers. With the coming of the Lord Jesus, the relationship between God and man is set in wondrous motion. Jesus acts as one who has power. He teaches and speaks in a way that no one before him has. In his words, the dead come to life, devils leave the oppressed, the deaf have their hearing restored, the dumb have their speech restored, the lame walk, and the lepers are cleansed. In his words, the net is filled with fish, the storm is stilled, the stormy sea is calmed, and the water is turned into wine. The apostles witness all this, and it is no wonder that they turn to Jesus with the plea, “Give us more faith” (Lk 17:5)! The answer of the Lord Jesus tells us that faith is a power that can do impossible things. It is not to be understood that trust would enable us to overpower the laws of nature to our liking or that it would serve only to amuse and entertain. God asks us to believe him, accept him in our lives, and faithfully do and keep his words. To do this, God has endowed us with reason, and free will, sends us teachers, guides, gives us signs, and communicates means. He requires us to cooperate with these means, which we must also understand as a gift and respond to them appropriately. Without prayer and the other means, we are to use to gain and grow faith, the opposite happens, a loss of faith, a departure from God. The growth of faith is not without struggles as we bear the consequences of original sin. None of us can avoid fights and wrestle with evil. We are tested and tempted, but we need not be overly afraid. Trusting in God’s help will help us to overcome, to avoid unnecessary scheming or risk-taking. The struggle for faith can be difficult at certain stages of life, but never beyond our strength. With the power of confidence, we can overcome. When the apostles ask for the gift of faith, they are a memento to us that without belief in a more significant measure, the demands Jesus makes of us cannot be realized.

Faith is the foundation; if it is weak, we will not stand when heavy demands are made upon us. We, too, are to cry to God, “Give us more faith” (Luke 17:5)! It is a wise plea. Like the apostles, we, too, are aware of what God can give us who want the happiness of man. Shall we ask for long life, health, wealth, and fame? Certainly not. This is temporary.
God, in his goodness, gives every man the opportunity to believe him. Therefore, every man can be saved, even those who lived before Christ, even those who have not encountered the teachings of Christ, even those who call God Allah, Buddha… What is decisive is man’s response. To live to the best of one’s knowledge and conscience, to fulfill one’s duties honestly, responsibly, in truth, love, and justice. Judgment and reward belong to God. God is the goal of every man. God gives to every man, in proportion to his time, age, and talents, a moral law in his soul, to which he responds by his life. Each man alone decides his salvation. God cannot be deceived. God rightly demands that we not only accept him as our goal, the purpose of our life, but that we respond to his gifts with gifts proportionate to the gifts he has given us and so grow in love for him. Therefore, it is valid for all people, without exception, that we are in this world to know God, to love him, and to serve him, for which we are provided with a reward. Whoever knowingly and willingly despises, does not accept, does not live up to what he has received from God, decides on a second reward – and that is punishment. God is who rewards the good but punishes the bad. Man’s faith, therefore, needs growth, developing activity, and work on its sanctification… We cannot be content with our faith at First Holy Communion or the Sacrament of Confirmation. As God gives us gifts, physical or intellectual growth, so He gives us gifts for the development of our faith. The growth of our faith is dependent on our cooperation with God. We know the greatness of our faith by the works we do. Those who cooperate with God are adequately fulfilling their duties. He also realizes that without God’s help, the growth of faith is impossible. Therefore, we cannot say that we believe – and not pray, not go to church, not access the sacraments. God established the Church, guided it, and through it, we receive the doctrine and the means to maintain and grow in faith.

It is time for us to rethink our faith. Is it appropriate to our age, life circumstances, and the means and graces we have received as a gift from God? Making excuses, speculating, procrastinating, and comparing ourselves too closely to others means we are not responding adequately to God’s facilities. On the contrary. With remorse, let us begin again with correction, albeit for the seventy-seventh time. That is, to start again on the path of cooperation with God’s gifts. Yes, even fasting, prayer, almsgiving, works of mercy, and faithful fulfillment of duties according to condition, age, or health are gifts that help us grow our faith.

True, we are to help one another. We may have been living our faith for years without deeper involvement. Someone just out of habit, or tradition, to avoid talking, just for the sake of someone else, participates in the acts that the Church prescribes but doesn’t believe it, doesn’t understand it, and doesn’t understand why it is this way and why not otherwise. One cannot command someone to believe. We can help, advise, explain, pray or ask God for him, but the other person must give his consent to God.
While still a young theology student, Bishop Helder Camara met an officer who confessed that he had not fulfilled his duties as a Catholic Christian since his First Communion. Now he would like to believe again. In an exchange of letters, the young student gave counterarguments to the officer’s objections to unbelief. These, however, did not convince him. Once, the officer wrote: “Intellectually, I am too poor, but I don’t believe.” The inexperienced student advised him to go to church in his uniform, kneel before the people’s eyes, and thus, in humility, perform an act of faith. However, he did not gain confidence in this way. After a time, a book from St. Teresa of Jesus, The Diary of a Soul, came into the officer’s hands. The next day, the officer writes a letter, “St. Therese accomplished in a few minutes what you could not.” The officer gained faith. It was a work of grace. “For the first time,” writes the Archbishop, “I then experienced the fact that above and beyond all arguments is the grace of God.”
Let us not sink in spirit when seeing and encountering unbelief in God. Let us do what we humanly can, but let us not forget how we can magnify or obtain the grace of God for ourselves and others.

Faith is something that escapes the scalpel of reason and psychology. But faith also has its stages. Faith is often a long process. Those who have received faith from their parents since childhood are in a different place from those who have felt the need to believe in adulthood. Faith is knowledge. One cannot want, possess, or know everything at once. The older one is, or if one wants to come to faith after a lousy life, one must realize that the more complex the journey will be. One must also understand that faith is never against science. True faith is not against actual science. That would be God against himself. God is, after all, Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. Faith is not the result of knowledge. To have faith, one must read the Gospel, have an open heart and mind to God, listen to the Church, and preferably have someone to advise, teach, explain, and guide the seeker.
St. Augustine, who personally went through the process of seeking faith, wrote: “Therefore, all man’s efforts will not bear fruit unless God Himself bestows this gift.” Beware, one who has already rejected the gift may not be worthy of being offered it again!
Autumn decides the future harvest. Even the beginning of the school year is an unrepeatable memento. So too, today’s Gospel is offered to us as a gift for faith growth.