17th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C
First Reading: Gn 18:20–21, 23–32
Second Reading: Col 2:6–14
Gospel Reading: Lk 11:1–13
“God is in his holy dwelling; … He gives power and strength to his people,” we say in this Sunday’s Entrance Antiphon.
In a 1997 pastoral letter, the late Archbishop Adam Exner, OMI, of Vancouver asked whether this optimism is really warranted. Archbishop Exner noted that in our secular and godless world, right and wrong are giving way to personal opinion and preference, truth and falsehood are being replaced by political correctness, the death culture is eroding respect for human life, and the communications media are filling our minds and hearts with a message that is anything but Christian.
“How then can we be optimistic?” he asked. “How can we look to the future with a realistic hope?”
In answer, he pointed out that after Pentecost, a group of rustic fishermen from Galilee and the handful of people who followed them went forth with optimism, courage, and trust and transformed the world of their time, turning an unbelieving society upside down and laying the foundation of Christian civilization for centuries to come.
This Sunday’s First Reading shows how much God can and will do with even the least co-operation from us: for the sake of ten righteous men in Sodom, he was prepared to “forgive the whole place.”
The reign of God “is like yeast which a woman took to knead into three measures of flour until the whole mass of dough began to rise,” Jesus said once.
“Jesus is still present among us,” the archbishop said. “He has not left us orphans. The Holy Spirit is still strengthening and empowering us. He is no less powerful today than he was 2000 years ago … We have the power to change our world. We have the power to build a civilization of life based on truth and love. That power is the power of the Holy Spirit.”
To co-operate with that power, we must live our lives “rooted” in Christ, “built up in him and established in the faith,” as St. Paul says in the Second Reading. If, as Jesus said in the Gospel Reading, we pray in union with him, surely he will hear our prayers for ourselves and our society.
“Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you,” he said. “For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”
“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” he questioned rhetorically.
To bring about the hope — or trust — to which Pope Francis dedicated this present Jubilee, “our prime focus must be spiritual renewal through deeper conversion so that we may become more filled with God’s Spirit, more docile to his guidance, and more ready to act in his power,” as Archbishop Exner said.
It is “a terrible mistake” to think that our prayers and actions cannot make a difference, he warned. We must reject this attitude and follow the example of Mary, the poor young peasant woman who gave humanity its greatest gift, God made man, “through her perfect trust and obedience.” Each of us can make a difference, even with the little we have and the little we can do — even if we ourselves do not see it. “The world needs us to give what we have and to trust that God will do the rest.”
No matter how great society’s sins and offences, God can and will forgive us for the sake of a few good people, “erasing the record” that stands against us, “setting it aside, nailing it to the cross,” as St. Paul says in the Second Reading.
“Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me,” we can say confidently in this Sunday’s Psalm.
Father Hawkswell has now finished teaching The Catholic Faith in Plain English for the summer. The whole course will remain available in written form and YouTube form at beholdvancouver.org/catholic-faith-course until it starts again, with new insights, on Sept. 7. The course is completely free of charge and no pre-registration is necessary. The first session will be an introduction.
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