Sunday, October 5, 2025

 

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 5, 2025
(Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4; 2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14; Luke 17:5-10)

Today's three readings seize our attention. In the Gospel, the apostles ask Jesus: "Increase our faith." This plea has resonated through the centuries. People of every age have felt their feet slipping in following the Lord Jesus. The world has often been a desert that does not nourish living faith. No matter the era, it has always been difficult to place trust in the sacraments and the teachings of the Church as the path to salvation. In the Middle Ages, great plagues that killed half the population in various parts of the world turned the earth into a "vale of tears." During the Industrial Revolution, multitudes lived in subhuman conditions that fostered hatred and rebellion. In the last century, television created a new desert of distractions that diverted attention from Christ, our leader.

The internet age has not freed humanity from the feeling of being lost. Computers and smart phones have taken control of many lives. Young people, in particular, are plagued by the easy access to pornography, which corrupts both healthy relationships and sound minds. Screens have led many into a virtual, unreal world, with superficial relationships and experiences almost devoid of meaning. Many Catholics have settled for "Mass on TV." They find it appealing because it doesn't require the effort of dressing up, traveling, or meeting undesirable people. But by following this way of praying, they miss the opportunity to receive the Lord in Holy Communion and to meaningfully unite with the community.

A cartoon released last Thanksgiving summarized well the predicament of our social breakdown today. The first frame finds a family gathered around the holiday table thirty years ago; everyone is talking with one another, smiling, and having a good time. The second shows the same family today, sitting in the living room, each one staring at a phone with bored faces.

We ask ourselves how we can lead our loved ones out of this digital desert. We are like the prophet Habakkuk in the first reading, crying out to the Lord: “How long, O Lord, must I cry for help without you listening?” We too feel the need to ask for more faith, like the apostles, so that we can believe our situation is not hopeless. But the Lord answers us, as he did them, that we already have enough faith—we only need to put it into action.

That is also the response Paul gives his young disciple Timothy in the second reading. Timothy was facing a challenge as bishop of the Christian community in Ephesus. Paul tells him to rekindle the gift of the Spirit he received when Paul laid hands on him. We don’t know exactly what Timothy’s problem was, but it likely involved false doctrines circulating at the time like the claim that Jesus was not truly human. Whatever the case, Paul urges Timothy to make full use of the gifts given to him by the Holy Spirit.

In the same way that Paul laid his hands on Timothy in the sacrament of Holy Orders, the bishop or his delegate laid hands on us in Confirmation. That sacrament sealed us with the Holy Spirit to serve the Body of Christ, the Church. His many gifts enable us to resist the obsession with computer devices that plagues our society. They strengthen us with courage not to give up the struggle; they balance us with moderation so as not to recognize the positive value of computers and telephones; and above all, they guide us with love so that our efforts may always give glory to God.