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“1st
Sunday of Advent - 2011
excerpts from a homily by Father Charles Irvin
Jesus asks: “Where
is your faith?"
...In St. Luke’s gospel we hear Jesus’ parable telling
us about the unscrupulous judge and the widow who kept banging on his door
asking for justice against him, this in the face of his indifference and
lack of concern for her. The judge complained about her pestering and about
her nagging persistence. “And the Lord said,” reports Luke, “did you notice
what the unjust judge has to say? Now will not God see justice done to his
chosen who cry out to him day and night even when he delays to help them? I
promise you, he will see justice done to them, and done speedily. But when
the Son of Man comes, will he find any faith on earth?”
We have so many questions we put to God. We have all of these lamentations
and cries for Him to act. But notice that Jesus has a question for us! He
has an expectation of us. He asks: “Where is your faith? Do you in fact have
any faith?” And when He comes again in glory on the Last Day, will He find
any faith on earth?
Faith gives us the power of hope. If we see hopelessness we see
faithlessness. Faith empowers us to act – to engage our surrounding world
because we hope for better things. If there was one quality that stood out
in Pope John Paul II it was that. He was a living embodiment of courage and
hope, those powers that flowed forth from his deep faith.
Despair is always just outside our doors waiting to creep into our hearts
and souls. Doubt, depression, disillusionment, discouragement, defeat, and
despair are the chief weapons of the devil. They lead to denial of God and
eventually to spiritual death. And Lucifer, who lives in an eternal hell of
despair, wants us to live likewise in his misery.
Love lives in hope. Love thrives on expectations. Love waits. Love is
patient and kind; it is never self-centered, never puffed up about all that
it does. Love is never conceited. It does not focus on other people’s sins.
It is always patient, kind, and generously believes in the good intentions
of others. Love is filled with forbearance, it is willing to suffer, and is
able to set aside the demands and expectations we place on others. Love
lives in hope of what can be.
Click here to read entire homily.
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