Say to This Mountain

Why, then, do you gaze on the faithless in silence while the wicked man devours one more just than himself? Habakkuk 1:13

“If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20

Piety

Let us pray: Lord, help me to move this mountain. Deliver us from evil and grant us peace today. Amen.

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/081206.shtml

Two questions arise today:

First, in the reading from Habakkuk, we see the original statement of that popular 1980s book title, “When Bad Things Happen to Good People.” If they have faith, shouldn’t God protect his children better than he does? If they believe, they will receive God’s love. No?

Second, why is the need for even a little faith, prayer and fasting among the leaders even a greater need than among the people? It seems that the leaders do not even have a little faith. If they had just a little, the size of a mustard seed, then they could move mountains. But, alas, they don’t even seem to have that much.

After readings from many of the Major Prophets lately (Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Micah), the First Readings take a short detour to some of the much shorter books in the Hebrew Bible. Yesterday the short 21 verses of Nahum. Today Habakkuk.

Habakkuk is significant because this may be the first instance in Jewish history in which a follower questions God directly. They couldn’t even call God by name let alone address God directly. It’s almost like we are witnessing a press conference or media interview with God.

Reporter: “Why, then, do you gaze on the faithless in silence while the wicked man devours one more just than himself?” Why do bad things happen to good people?

God: “The rash man has no integrity; but the just man, because of his faith, shall live.” (Habakkuk 2:4)

Although we’ll never really know if that’s the last word answering this cry of the poor because as Graham Greene wrote, “You can't conceive, nor can I, the appalling strangeness of the mercy of God.”

Action

What do you cry out to God about? Has it included the war in Lebanon?

If we have wanted to move mountains about the unprovoked violence from Hezbollah against Israel and the seemingly disproportionate response from the Jewish state, our “cry” has finally been heard. It seems.

While the warring parties are still far from peace, the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution Friday that calls for a halt to the fighting and authorizes the deployment of foreign troops to help the Lebanese army take back its lands in southern Lebanon.

While much work needs to be done to enforce this resolution, it is a giant step in the direction that the Vatican and U.S. Bishops have been urging.

As a resolution, it is sad that this alone will not immediately end the acts of violence. Plus, it is sad that the mountain of the international community did not act sooner. Maybe that is evidence that we still lack faith the size of a mustard seed.