by fr.JLucas+ 5th October 2025 (27th Sunday in Ordinary Time)

Faith that Stands in Struggle  

Pilgrims of Hope! Together in prayer

Today’s Word of God speaks directly to our Jamaican hearts, especially to us here in Kingston, where life is often full of struggles. Corruption, unemployment, crime, broken families, and endless disappointments sometimes make us cry like the prophet Habakkuk: “How long, O Lord? I cry for help, but you do not listen! Why do you let me see so much suffering?”

Is this not our cry too? When the Water Commission and JPS bills are due, Flow and Digicel send messages for you to pay for Internet bills. When children at school turn into gangs, and those we thought would save us in our old age become useless. When sickness eats away at our strength, and death grabs those we love when we least expect…: Don’t you find yourself asking… “God, are you really there?” But God answers us through Habakkuk with a powerful word: “The vision will come at the appointed time. Wait for it. The just shall live by faith.” But now what is that Faith?

1. Faith Means Waiting 

Waiting with Trust

Our elders used to say, “The child who waits will eat with the elders.” The one who waits rides a donkey. This is close to another saying, “Patience pays…” How many of us are being destroyed by impatience? — We want quick riches, quick results, quick answers. That is why corruption grows, why young people are tempted into shortcuts. But God tells us: be patient, hold on, live by faith. Things shall be well. “The one who always waits knows the value of hope”

In Kingston and the surrounding parishes on our island, we see many rushing ahead — young people in High school drive big cars, often with money stolen from their parents, but nowadays they also steal themselves. Politicians are building mansions while the poor suffer. 

We have lost several young people through suicide in the last four weeks, including a 12-year-old boy 12 who killed himself because of being chastised. A beautiful soul of a young lady who expressed herself on social media and with millions of followers on her Instagram, no one saw her take her life. These are those that we know you can imagine others among us whom we don’t know. 

Our society is on the move, and no one is ready and willing to wait; it’s instant, now or never, forgetting “the vision is for its time”. God is not asleep. Despite the challenges of age and time. He’s there. Faith is to keep walking even when the road is dark.

2. Faith means Blazing 

We are invited to Fan into Flame the Gift of God.

In the second reading, we see St. Paul tells Timothy: “Stir into flame the gift of God that is in you.” Beloved, every one of us has a seed inside — a seed of faith, a seed of hope, a seed of love. But if we do not fan it, it grows cold, it goes off.

In African tradition, the fire in the homestead must always be kept burning. If it goes out, people cannot cook, children cannot eat, and the home grows cold. Faith is like that fire — it must be stirred daily: through prayer, through sacraments, through standing together in community, etc…..

3. Faith means “not big” 

Faith as Small as a Mustard Seed

In the Gospel, the apostles cry: “Lord, increase our faith!” And Jesus answers: “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”

Beloved. Faith is not about size — it is about trust. Even a little seed grows into a great tree when it is nurtured. Even a small light can guide people in the slums when there is a blackout. Even a little act of kindness can heal someone’s despair. Such is what Jesus calls “true faith”, that is lived in service. “We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.” Faith is not magic. It is lived out in humility, in serving others, in doing the right thing even when no one is watching. Even when the results are not visible, keep doing it. 

In conclusion, life is tough, life is rough — but life is beautiful, let us not lose hope, for hope never fails. When disappointments weigh us down, let us remember that the vision will come. But as we wait for God’s vision, let’s keep acting on our courage and fanning the flame. Do not fear. Even a small seed of courage and love can move mountains that have been blocking your prosperity.