Homily – 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

When I was a child, cooking was never as simple as pressing a button or turning a knob. It was not only about preparing ingredients for cooking, but also about learning how to make a good fire. It involved learning how to place larger logs on top of smaller ones, then finding kindling or twigs to coax a little flame to life. At times, it meant crouching low on the earthen floor with bent arms – and tired shoulders – trying to blow at the flame with all your lung strength, hoping the whole thing would flare up; or using a piece of cardboard with all your arm muscles to fan repeatedly and stir that flame. Sometimes you had to accept that your whole kitchen would fill with black smoke. Nevertheless, the image of the whole family – parents, brothers and sisters – gathered around the open wooden stove cooking rice and food, and at the same time trying to catch warmth from the same flame on cold winter mornings after Mass at 4:30 am, is deeply rewarding.

There is another kind of flame the Scripture readings invite us to reflect on this week: the flame of faith. This flame, as Paul highlights in the second reading, is a gift given to us that must be fanned and guarded constantly, because it is so important. The readings give us several reasons why.

The first is found in the first reading from the prophet Habakkuk. Faith enables someone to live even despite many difficult challenges one must face and endure.

Living in this world, life is not always as smooth as we wish. Sometimes we witness so much evil and wrongdoing inflicted upon many good people. It happens repeatedly, to the point that one might question whether God really exists. If he does, why does he seem inactive or silent? We hear this in the frustrated voice of Habakkuk:

“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.” (Habakkuk 1:2‑3)

In these words of desperation, God answers him and calls him to be steadfast in faith. God is the Lord of all creation and holds power over human history. Those who patiently wait for God’s timing and remain faithful will surely experience God’s goodness; meanwhile, the wicked will face judgment:

“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 one swelled up, his spirit is not right in him,
But the just one, because of his faith, shall live.” (Habakkuk 2:2‑4)

On another level, the flame of faith must be fanned because it works together with the gifts of “strength, love, and self‑control” to enable the disciples of Jesus to “bear [their] share of hardship for the Gospel.” As preachers of faith, one may face suffering and hardship, and sometimes one may feel tempted toward “cowardice.” Yet if that flame of faith is fanned within a person, it empowers them to spread the Good News to the world.

The Gospel, on the other hand, shows that faith itself holds great transforming power. This is illustrated in the image of the mustard seed and the mulberry tree. Though the mulberry tree can grow up to seventy feet tall, while a mustard seed is one of the smallest seeds in the garden (only about 1-3 millimetres in diameter), Jesus proclaims: “If you have faith in the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be rooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” What matters is that faith in God which allows a person to transform himself or herself and help others to be transformed as well.

Let us not hesitate to continue fanning the flame of faith in our hearts – even though it sometimes requires great effort, in the end it can be richly rewarding.

By Fr Sang Ho