Blog

Once again, we have Scripture readings that are not easily understandable, at least not in the first reading or the first hearing of them. There is a message in these readings, Good News, but we must do a little digging. It seems to be the prophets’ and Jesus’s preferred way of doing things. They get you thinking about something, and then they walk away leaving you to puzzle it in your mind. Neither Jesus nor the prophets are into handing us nicely packaged answers to our questions. Anything we don’t work for is too easy-come-easy-go and will not have any transformative or lasting effect in our lives.

Let’s start with that first reading and the prophet Habakkuk. He lived about 600 years before the birth of Jesus. As I’ve mentioned before, the Jews, in Biblical times, were divided into two kingdoms, Israel in the North and Judah in the South. About 100 years before God calls the prophet Habakkuk, the northern kingdom of Israel was defeated by the Assyrians and now, during Habakkuk’s time, the southern kingdom of Judah is on the cusp of being invaded and destroyed by the Babylonians. The prophet Habakkuk asks God, point blank, a question many of us have probably asked during troubling times, “God, why aren’t you intervening in this situation? Why aren’t you stepping in and doing something, like right now?” Habakkuk asks: “How long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? How long shall I cry ‘Violence is all around me and you will not save?’ Why do you make me see all these wrongdoings and look at trouble? I can’t take much more of this negative, depressing stuff. I have to see a little hope somewhere!” I think we’ve all felt overwhelmed at different times in life and said to God, in one form or another, “Enough is enough!”

It became clear to Habakkuk and other prophets, that God was using pagan nations like the Assyrians and the Babylonians to temporarily punish our ancestors in faith for repeatedly turning away from God and putting their faith in military might. God was giving Habakkuk a vision that this punishment would only be temporary, that God would never abandon the Jews, that the foreign enemies, themselves, would be defeated, and that the Jewish people would be restored to their homeland. The darkness would not last forever. There will be light at the end of this dark tunnel, and your cry for help will be answered. God demanded that Habakkuk write this vision down. Why write this down? Because it was not just a vision for the prophet, but it was also a vision of hope for all the people of Judah. God told Habakkuk to make this vision plain on tablets so that a runner may read it. Who are the runners? The runners are people of Judah running for their lives as the Babylonians invade their country. As they were running away to save their own lives, God wanted Habakkuk to construct a billboard, a sign, for people to see and draw hope and inspiration from. This sign would say something like, “violence, hatred, pain, suffer, and even death will not be final. God has not abandoned you. You are running now from your homeland, but some day you will walk back to this country with your heads held high.” 

What might this story be telling us? What it may be telling us is: that until we learn from our mistakes of the past and commit to forging a better future, a future guided by God, history will repeat itself with all its ugly violence. As the people of Judah ran from the invading army and looked for any sign of hope at all, I can’t help but think about how the Ukrainians are fleeing for their lives with the Russians invading. All over Europe, people fled for their lives from the invading Nazis before and during the Second World War. The continuation of war, right into our own time, seems to be the very name of history itself. 

God tells Habakkuk that if the vision of God seems to tarry (delayed), wait for it, nonetheless. It will surely come; it will not delay. Waiting in a dark tunnel, while there doesn’t seem to be an apparent light at the end of that tunnel, is no easy task. Longing for light when you are surrounded by darkness is not an easy chore. Sometimes we go through a period of life where we are just surviving, hoping and waiting for a sign that says something like, “Hang in there, for this suffering, it too will pass.” On those days, we are very much like the slave in the gospel. We are plugging away, being faithful to the commandment of loving God and loving our neighbour as best we can. We are basically doing our duty. What makes us hang in there, especially when we want to give up? What makes us persevere, especially when we are convinced our little efforts are making no positive difference at all? Faith; faith the size of a mustard seed. Faith, even in its smallest form, leads to faithfulness. 

How does a woman every day remain faithful to visiting her husband who hasn’t recognized her for the past two years because of Alzheimer’s? She remains faithful because of her faith. Faith leads to faithfulness. Somewhere, someone planted a seed of faith in us. It is that seed of faith, that allows you to be faithful, faithful in your vows, faithful to raising your children, faithful to accompanying someone through their sickness, faithful to you job which isn’t always rewarding, faithful to your church, etc. Rarely does faithfulness feel glamourous, rewarding, or even worthwhile. It feels more like the daily duties of a slave. 

God asked Habakkuk to stand on the side of the road and raise a sign of hope for all those running from the pain, suffering, and disappointments of life. Let’s make a pact, that when we see someone depressed and wanting to run from it all, we will encourage them with a bigger vision of hope. This vision, this placard, will be nothing less than God’s hope for all of suffering humanity. When we can do this, running will cease, and we will walk back to our homeland. Our heads will be held high because will finally know that God was walking with us from the very beginning.

Fr. Phil Mulligan