Faithful and Faith-filled

Homily for Thursday on the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

The Lectionary for Daily Mass offers us verses from the familiar “Benedictus” that fall from the lips of Zechariah in the opening chapters of St. Luke’s Gospel. This does not happen often. Usually, the response to the first reading comes to us from the Book of Psalms. What appears to be a curiosity, however, really is an appropriate way to highlight the lessons found in the first reading from St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians and the Gospel passage which extends Jesus’ teaching on intercessory prayer which was introduced in yesterday’s Gospel.

First of all, we must remember the circumstances under which Zechariah’s song of praise was first uttered. While ministering in the Temple, Zechariah had been visited by the angel Gabriel who announced the birth of John the Baptist. Zechariah's faith falters which results in his being struck dumb. However after witnessing the birth of his son, restored in faith, he is moved to praise God for fulfilling the promises made to his ancestors. It must also be said that at the moment he utters these words of praise, nothing had really happened other than the birth of a baby. The young maiden of Nazareth and the elderly woman of Bethany had been promised by God that they would both give birth to sons. In both instances, this really should not be happening. Elizabeth is, by all accounts, past the age of childbearing. Mary, on the other hand had never been with a man. These exceptional circumstances do nothing to dim the hopes of the faith of these two women and a Zechariah. They firmly believe that God is faithful and that God will fulfill these promises.

In the light of this exceptional moment in the life of Zechariah, Elizabeth, and Mary, the fact that the community of Galatia seems to have turned its back on the Gospel that has been preached to them betrays their lack of faith. At the same time, in speaking of expressing our needs to God, Jesus accentuates the need for this kind of faith. So it is that we find both of the community to whom Paul is preaching and the disciples to whom Jesus is preaching are in need of the kind of faith exhibited in these early pages of St. Luke's Gospel. The Galatians need to learn to place their faith in God rather than in the law of Moses. By the same token, the disciples of Jesus need to place their faith in the providential concern of the father. 

As we celebrate the Eucharist this morning, we recall the faith of Zechariah, Mary, and Elizabeth; and in that memory, we find an example of how we are to pray and in what we are to place our hope. We join with them in blessing the name of the God of Israel who has chosen to dwell among us.