A World Without Faith 沒有信德的世界

Twenty Ninth Ordinary Sunday, Year C
Theme: A World Without Faith 沒有信德的世界

The Son of God has made it crystal clear that nobody should know the day and hour of the end of the world (Mark 13:32). Furthermore, Christ even says, “You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” (Matthew 24:44) Indeed, all documented doomsday prophecies have failed because most of them are attracted to special numbers, such as millennia or special events such as 6000 years after Creation etc. They made the mistake of not following Jesus’ words seriously. If we take His words seriously, we should never come up with a specific day and hour because once announced, an expectation would build up. Then the date and hour would NOT be unexpected! If we read the gospels carefully enough, you’ll see that Jesus has only painted a very vague picture: natural disasters, wars and disorders in the sky above etc. which are norms nowadays! Regrettably, human beings have been so used to these disasters, wars and extreme weathers that we become indifferent towards them. Mortality is just a number which we find it hard to relate to and the economic costs are simply too big to comprehend. Not only have we become indifferent, but we also distrust news reports, thinking that these are fake news, rumours or outputs from content-farms! Probably skepticism is how the human psychology tries to protect us from shocks.

The gospel passage today leaves us a curious verse which seems to be out of context. Jesus was telling the parable of a persistent widow to teach once more that we should pray untiringly to God (Luke 18:2-8a). Abruptly, he finished with, “But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (18:8b) Two questions immediately arise. Firstly, what has perseverance in prayer to do with the end of the world? We don’t pray for the quickening of the end of the world, do we? Secondly, what is the relationship between faith and the end of the world? Is Christ suggesting that a lack of faith would incur the end of the world?

It is short-sighted for us to pray for our immediate needs only, though we often do. Why not? Even among the seven petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, four of them deal with our immediate needs. But have we meditated the second petition enough, that of the coming of the Father’s kingdom? Not only does this petition imply the spreading of the gospel message among the nations, but it also points to the second coming of the Son of Man. At the same time, this petition reminds us of our evangelization duty. God would be unfair if He passes judgment on peoples who never have an opportunity to hear of the gospel. Therefore, evangelization is indispensable for the righteousness of God. But when we proclaim the gospel, surely we’ll encounter all sorts of obstacles and even persecutions because the spirit of the Beatitudes goes against contemporary secularism. By then, we’ll switch our focus on the protection from temptations and deliverance from evils and lose sight of the Kingdom of Heaven and the end of the world!

The story of the first reading today may throw us some lights. The Israelites were recently liberated from the slavery in Egypt. Before they reached Mount Sinai to establish the Covenant with God, they encountered and waged war against the Amalekites in Rephidim (Exodus 17:8). The Hebrew slaves had never been trained in warfare. Therefore, this battle had to be fought for them by God. While Joshua and some men were engaging with Amalek below, Moses, Aaron and Hur were praying on top of the hill. When Moses’ hands were raised, the Israelites had the upper hand and vice versa (17:9-10)! Truly, evangelization is a warfare, a spiritual combat against the prince of Darkness. Like the Hebrew slaves, we are not angels trained in the fighting with Satan. On one hand, we only have faith as our shield and the word of God our sword (Ephesians 6:16-17). On the other, we have the Holy Spirit to help us pray when we do not know what we ought to pray for (Romans 8:26). This is how we should evangelize and to engage in this spiritual warfare. Faith and scriptures are our armour and prayers are our ammunition. Therefore, it is just and right for us to pray that the Kingdom of God prevails now and in the end. The end of the world should be one petition among our many prayers.

Who do not want to see the end of the world? The minorities who benefit from the status quo don’t. They enjoy power and wealth at the expenses of the majority. Of course they want to continue enjoying their advantages. However, the Catholic Church opts for the poor and stands by the needy. It is not her duty to overthrow the powerful and the wealthy. Instead, it is her duty to pray for the speedy coming of the Son of Man to see justice prevail. Since nobody, not even the angels, know the day and hour of the end of the world, we can only follow Jesus’ advice to pray untiringly for the speedy ending of the world. “Will not God then secure the rights of His chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will He be slow to answer them?” (Luke 18:7)

Allow me to attempt the second question, namely that a lack of faith triggers the end of the world. Let us imagine what a world without faith would be like. As a Catholic, I’m not in the position to pass judgment on Islam, Buddhism and Taoism etc. To be more exact therefore, the question becomes what a world without Christianity would be like. Well, I don’t mean a world without churches. Rather, it is a world in which you can still find churches but the spirit of beatitudes is wanting in them. That is to say churches which work hard to keep their finance healthy, to stay out of troubles in social controversies, to keep silent on moral issues, to avoid the marginalized and to generate more divisions and confusions in the society etc. There are churches which serve political or economic masters instead of God. In short, a world in which when the Son of Man comes again, He would be unable to recognize His Bride! Of course, it is exaggeration! It is because Jesus pledges to stay with us till the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). It is impossible for Him to ignore the deterioration of His Bride! He is merciful and will do whatever within His capacity to turn the tide.

However, let’s forget not that He is unable to go against our free will. We are free to choose not to trust Him. The gospel tells us that even His kindred did not believe in Him, “So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.” (Mark 6:5-6) Moreover, humanity tends to be impatient. Their faith does not last long. Very soon and very easily, they would throw their hands in the air and give up. That’s why the Catholic Church decides to abandon elitism and continues proclaiming saints after saints in recent years!
To be candid, I’m rather pessimistic. To paraphrase the beloved disciple, if I cannot draw consolation from what is visible, how am I supposed to have faith in what is invisible (1 John 4:20)? Moses was able to last until sunset when Joshua won the battle, not only because Aaron and Hur helped him raise his arms, but Moses was also able to see Joshua winning! I begin to feel what the merciful Lord felt when He spoke that enigmatic verse, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8b) No wonder we have to pray untiringly to sustain our faith, since “the just shall live by faith” (Habakkuk 2:4, Romans 1:17).
Yes, Lord, You will find faith on earth when You come. Amen.
2016 Reflection
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