The just shall live by his faith. 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

Faith shows itself most when external circumstances are most adverse. Faith is shown when God seems slow to answer our prayers, but we continue to believe in Him. Faith is lived out in the concrete circumstances of our daily duty. Trust is the core of faith.

The above is a summary of what this Sunday's readings tell us about faith, which is their main theme. In the first reading, the prophet Habakkuk dares to question God about some of the injustices he sees around him. Why does God not seem to help him? Why is there so much violence? Why does God allow so much evil? These are questions we might be tempted to ask today.

But the Lord responds with a call for patience. His answer, he says, "if it is late, wait on it, for it will come and it will not be long.". And this willingness to live in a state of trusting patience is precisely faith. Whereas the proud man trusts in himself, "the just shall live by his faith".

The psalm gives us an example of how the Israelites did not trust God: the episodes of Meribah and Massah, which may have been two different places or possibly the same one, where Israel "tested" and doubted God because of the lack of water (which God later provided). The psalmist sees lack of faith as a hardening of the heart: the opposite of trust.

Timothy, who seems intimidated by the task Paul has given him as bishop, is encouraged by the apostle in the second reading to trust in the grace that has been given to him, to "rekindling the gift of God". which he received through episcopal ordination. Paul means that, even if humanly speaking you are not up to the task of a particular mission, God can give you all the grace you need to fulfill it. Trusting in this is faith. We believe more in God's power than in our weakness. Because Timothy did this, he is now a saint of the Church.

Finally, the Gospel completes the lesson on faith. Even the smallest faith, "like a mustard seed"This faith, however, is not usually lived through miraculous events, but through the faithful fulfillment of the tasks related to our role in life. However, this faith is not usually lived through miraculous events, but through the faithful fulfillment of the tasks related to our role in life, knowing that, in reality, whatever our work or our role, we are all servants. When we live our faith, we should not expect extraordinary rewards: "We are useless servants, we have done what we had to do.".