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Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Habakkuk 1:12-2:4
Psalm 9:8-13
Matthew 17:14-20
S
UMMARY
Our first reading describes the reality of our world. This is a world
where the wicked devour the weak and just, alike, and the prophet
asks and demands of God: "Why, then, do you gaze on the faith-
less...? This is a world filled with the works of death. The prophet
will 'stand at his guardpost to await an answer to his complaint. The
Lord responds, commanding him to pass on for human memory, this
promise: "For the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment,
and will not disappoint.....it will not be late".
The psalmist, too, "sings" of this paradox of waiting, of trusting, say-
ing that "he has not forgotten the cry of the poor".
In the Gospel, a cry comes that every parent understands all too well:
'Lord, have pity on my child'. This is so profoundly personal and par-
ticular, addressing The One who engages us in the present and par-
ticular agonies of our lives. Jesus, before directly responding, judges
(sees into the truth of) the faithlessness, the wanting of trust in his
ministers, the disciples (that is us, by the way). He promises to them
that "nothing will be impossible for you" if you but trust.
R
EFLECTION
This is real life that we all are surrounded by, filled by, and Habakkuk
states this in terms we cannot miss, try as we might want to. For who
wants to look into the darkness of this world, both inside of us and