Good Shepherd Catholic Parish

Readings: Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4; Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9 (R. “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”); 2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14; Luke 17:5-10

Habakkuk is one of the 12 “Minor Prophets”.¹ He prophesied during a brief turbulent time from when the Babylonians were encroaching on areas surrounding the Southern Kingdom, Judah, until when Nebuchadnezzar finally invaded Judah and Jerusalem in 597 BC (10± years total). His opening cry, “How long, O Lord? I cry for help but you do not listen!”, however, is not so much about the impending danger of the Babylonians, but the unfaithfulness of the people to the covenant. How long can the Lord put up with such an unfaithful people is one of Habakkuk’s main questions. Judgment has been delayed, but Habakkuk sees the foreign invaders as the Lord’s punishment for his people’s lack of faithfulness to the covenant. This gives rise to another question in Habakkuk’s preaching: Why would the Lord use an even more evil nation than Judah to punish them (1:12-17)? Our reading closes, however, with a note of hope: “…the just one, because of his faith, shall live” (2:4b). “The faithful survive the impending doom because they trust in God’s justice and wait patiently for God to carry it out.” This message of hope is twice cited by St. Paul (Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11) and once by the author of the Letter to the Hebrews (10:38) “to confirm the teaching that people receive justification and supernatural life through faith in Christ.”²

Habakkuk fulfilled his role as prophet in the way that Timothy is encouraged to fulfill his ministry:³ “I remind you, to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control.” St. Paul certainly did not shrink from preaching Christ crucified; Paul endured beatings, stoning, imprisonment, and finally death by beheading in Rome (he was a Roman citizen, so he was not crucified). Timothy should not “be ashamed” of the Gospel or of the hardships that Paul endured, “but bear [his] share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.” In order to do that, Timothy is exhorted to “Take as your norm the sound words that you heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard this rich trust with the help of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.”

In the light of Habakkuk’s prophesying, Paul’s courageous preaching of the Gospel, and Timothy taking up Paul’s mantel, we might feel like the apostles’ request of Jesus is very much our own: “Increase our faith.” Jesus’ response is not so much to increase their faith, but instead notes by way of hyperbole how much only a little faith can do: “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” Hmmm. I know that Jesus is making the point that if one really asks something in faith in his name, it will be done. But, why “would” I want to tell a mulberry tree to “Be uprooted and planted in the sea”, or even be more grandiose and ask that a mountain be cast into the sea (cf. Mt 17:20; 21:21; Mk 11:23)? Perhaps the oddness of these requests is to nudge us to remember another teaching: “If you … know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the holy Spirit to those who ask him?” (Luke 11:13; see Matthew 7:11, which has “good things” in the place of “the holy Spirit”)

Squirrel!? Now Luke has Jesus switch to a teaching concerning the attitude of a servant—a teaching that is found only in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus begins, as he does elsewhere, with a rhetorical question: “Who among you would say to your servant who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here immediately and take your place at table’?” Most of Jesus’ hearers likely did not have servants, but perhaps some were themselves servants. They would know that their master didn’t act that way, and if the roles were reversed, they would not do that either. Jesus knows it, too, for he continues with another rhetorical question: “Would he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink. You may eat and drink when I am finished’?” That sounds much more like the master-servant relationship they knew. Lastly Jesus asks yet another question, “Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded?” Clearly in the master-servant relationship, gratitude was not something to be expected of the master, for Jesus concludes: “So should it be with you. When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’”

To me the switch from “increase our faith” to the questions about servants and masters seemed sudden and unexpected—thus, my “Squirrel!?” Perhaps, however, there is a relationship: No matter how great one’s faith and how much s/he can do with that faith, before God, s/he is always a servant. No servant can place expectations on her/his master for doing what has been asked of her/him. While God is more gracious and loving than human masters are, our response to God’s call is our duty. When we are faithful, “we have done what we were obliged to do.” BUT, that’s a GOOD THING; it is good to do what the Lord calls us to do. The people in Habakkuk’s day were not fulfilling their duty to the covenant. St. Paul certainly did his “duty”, and now Timothy is continuing the mission.

May we take the Psalm response to heart: “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” Rather, with the Psalmist, we can “sing joyfully to the Lord” for he, “the Rock of our salvation”, has given us the duty of good work to you and me. In faith, even the size of a mustard seed, we can do great things. And though we cannot indebt God to us on the basis of our works, we know from Habakkuk, St. Paul, and the Letter to the Hebrews, “…the just one, because of his faith, shall live”—a faith that reminds us that the Holy Spirit helps us do the duty entrusted to us, individually and as a community of faith.

¹The “Minor Prophets” are Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.

²Note at Hab 2:4 in The Catholic Study Bible.

³Although letters of 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus are attributed to St. Paul, they address a church whose organization of various ministries seems later than Paul. These could be written very late in Paul’s life, while he was under arrest in Rome. Or, they could be written by a faithful disciple of Paul who is applying Paul’s preaching of the Gospel to this new age of the Church. I think authorship post-Paul is the more likely; see the Reader’s Guides about these letters in The Catholic Study Bible for various proposals about authorship without taking a firm stance.

This is a “Stewardship Prayer” from Our Sunday Visitor. This prayer provides all of us good food for reflection.

My parish is composed of people like me. I help make it what it is.
It will be friendly, if I am.
It will be holy, if I am.
Its pews will be filled, if I help fill them.
It will do great work, if I work.
It will be prayerful, if I pray.
It will make generous gifts to many causes, if I am a generous giver.
It will bring others into worship, if I invite and bring them in.
It will be a place of loyalty and love, of fearlessness and faith,
of compassion, charity and mercy,
if I, who make it what it is, am filled with these same things.
Therefore, with the help of God,
I now dedicate myself to the task of being all
the things that I want my parish to be.
Amen.

PASTOR
Rev. Terry A. Roder
206 N 2nd Street  PO Box 39
Breda, IA  51436
Breda Rectory Office (712-673-2351) 
Rodert@scdiocese.org

BOOKKEEPER/ADM ASSISTANT
Cindy Lawler
Good Shepherd Catholic Parish
304 N 2nd Street  PO Box 29
Breda IA  51436
Phone: 712-673-2582
Office Hours Mon - Fri: 8:30am-2:30pm 
goodshepherd@westianet.net

ST JOHN THE BAPTIST-Arcadia
Julie Eich, Administrative Assistant
Office Hours: Mon & Fri 7:30-11:30 am Phone: 712-689-2595
stjohnarcadia@gmail.com 

ST AUGUSTINE-Halbur
Rosie Sporrer, Administrative Assistant
Office Hours Monday 9:00am-11:00am
Phone: 712-658-2464
Fax: 712-658-2464
staug@iowatelecom.net