“How Long, O Lord?” – Trusting God’s Timing in Life’s Trials
Readings and Virtual Homily for October 5, 2025, Twenty-seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time; London and Paris Postponed Again
Readings for Mass this Sunday:
Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4
Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9
2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14
Luke 17:5-10
Dear Friends and Family,
The obvious principle theme across today's readings is that of the virtue of faith. The first reading from Habakkuk begins with a lament, a cry for assistance and the question, "How long, O Lord?" (Ch. 1, vs. 2). In the fourth verse, not included in today's readings, the prophet asserts, "This is why the law is numb and justice never comes." Habakkuk sounds as if he has lost faith.
Ever feel like that? Heaven knows I have. I have lost count of the number of times I have come to the Lord in simple exasperation at the intransigence of a bad situation. How long, O Lord, I have indeed asked. I can relate entirely here, to Habakkuk.
Though it sounds as if Habakkuk has lost faith, in fact, of course, he has not. The second part of the reading starts with the assurance of God's understanding and God's intent and capacity to rectify things. "Then the Lord answered me," Habakkuk writes. The vision Habakkuk has received (of a time of justice, a time when the wrongs will be rectified) "is a witness to the appointed time, a testimony to the end; it will not disappoint" (Ch. 2, vs. 3). "if it delays," the prophet continues, relaying the Lord's assurance to us, "wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late" (Ch. 2, vs. 3).
The Lord has an appointed time for everything. And the Lord's time is always the right time. I can say this breezily and with confidence, this October of 2025, because I am not, by the grace of God, at the moment enduring an awful situation. Not so easy to talk like this when we ARE enduring an awful situation.
The ability to wait on the Lord and on His appointed time is really, to some extent, faith itself, and Habakkuk says as much (Ch. 2, vs. 4). The psalm reiterates this truth, reminding us of the impatience of the Israelites in the desert, where the people "tried" the Lord though they had seen His works (vs. 9). Faith calls for trust; the Israelites several times lost their trust in God, during their long sojourn in the wilderness.
Paul's advice to Timothy in the second reading runs a strong parallel to the advice both of Habakkuk and the psalmist. "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" (vss. 13-14). Paul connects faith with trust; in fact, the two might well be argued to be one and the same thing.
The passage from Luke begins with the apostles asking Jesus to increase their faith (vs. 5). Jesus assures them that if they had faith the size of a mustard seed they could perform miraculous deeds (vs. 6). I mentioned once in a Sunday homily here at St. Clement that I did not know what a mustard seed looked like but I had to assume it was pretty small. A few days later I found a gift from a parishioner in my box at the parish office. A card with an explanation accompanied the gift itself, which was a small, clear plastic vial containing several mustard seeds: The parishioner has a mustard plant in her yard. Oh my gosh...they ARE tiny!
All of which, I guess, just goes to encourage us to have faith; that is, to trust in the dark and difficult times, when we cannot help but cry out, "How long, O Lord?" For all those times that I have so cried out to the Lord, IN RETROSPECT, I am able to say, His timing was indeed perfect. Factors relating to the situation about which I knew nothing had to be moved into place, for the situation to issue in a divine resolution that was beyond anything I could have planned or aimed for. IN RETROSPECT I am able to see that and attest to it. Not so easy, when we are going through it.
Faith the size of a mustard seed, evidently, might have spared me a lot of anguish, a lot of worry, a lot of thinking "I have to fix this; HOW?" The Lord does not want us in anguish with worry. He wants us confident in faith and with a deep, abiding and calming trust in his love for us and his plan for us. So with the apostles in today's Gospel passage, it is probably a good idea to ask the Lord to increase our faith.
Well, it is October and you may remember that when my plans to be in London and Paris at the start of the sabbatical were dashed by the new British visa requirement, I immediately re-booked for this month. Re-booked with a vengeance; got seats coming and going in United's comfy Premium Economy cabin (wider seats and way more legroom); extended the trip from ten days to fifteen and just for the heck of it threw in a quick trip to Gibraltar -- The Rock has been on my bucket list for a decade or more.
That trip was scheduled to commence this coming Wednesday. Three weeks ago I notified my friends in London and Paris that the trip was off because...San Gabriel Media is so on. I won't bore you with too many details but I will say this much: I am on track to complete four new books before the sabbatical ends, and we (several of us at San Gabriel) are pacing video production so as to have filmed two completely new series at the You Tube channel, plus adding episodes to programs already up and running; a projected total of somewhere above 250 videos shot before New Year's, half of which are already filmed and in the post-production stage.
We are this month doing a second printing on five of my currently available books; we plan to run several brand new books (including at least a couple of the four I am working on right now) over the winter. We have two book promotions lined up for this fall and through the winter. Meanwhile, the You Tube promo that has been going all summer is barreling into the fall -- we are likely to hit 500,000 subscribers later this month.
There is proof-reading and editing to do. There are promo videos and trailers to shoot. There are marketing strategy meetings, both via Zoom and in person, in Los Angeles, to schedule and attend. There is -- pesky annoyance! -- realistic financing of and for all of this activity; there are budgetary considerations to attend to.
Well, there. I lied. I DID give you a bunch of details, but believe me the list of current and near-term projects and activities is twice what I have just reported. This is why I am on sabbatical the rest of this year. I did not take the sabbatical to travel. Much as I love my friends in London and Paris and much as I love those two cities in their own right, I looked at all that is going forward right now at San Gabriel and then I looked at suspending all of it for fifteen days of leisure in the middle of this month and -- I canceled the fifteen days of leisure.
London and Paris will still be there at New Year's, when, really, I do intend to travel. I have often spent the week after Christmas with my friends in Europe and that was always the plan for this year. It will be at the very end of the sabbatical, and I hope to be able to sit back comfortably in United Premium Economy, December 27, on my way to Heathrow, able to exhale with real satisfaction, at what we will have by then accomplished with the media ministry. Stay tuned.
That'll do it, for this one. Take good care and God bless.
Love,
Fr. Brawn