27C22.      Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4.    The prophet cries out, “O Lord? I cry for help but you do not listen!”  The Lord answered, “The just one, because of his faith, shall live.”  God’s mercy belongs to those who have made it clear in their life of faith in God that they belong to God.

Luke 17:5-16.  “The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith.’”  Faith is powerful because it unites us to the all-powerful almighty divinity.  Faith gives us the power to rise above just being another animal of this world to being a child of the God who loves us dearly.  Faith is not something that is simply given to us but what we gradually gain by living a life of ever-growing union with God, seeing, as we grow in faith, the wondrous results of that growth.  However, we must do it in a spirit of humility, not brandishing our good works and demanding reward for our faithful service but living as humble servants whose reward is having the privilege of serving our Almighty God.

2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14.  Paul encourages Timothy “to stir into flame the gift of God” “of power and love and self-control.”  “Take as your norm the sound words that you heard from me.”  “Guard this rich trust with the help of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.”  What Paul gave to Timothy was what he had received from God.  Faith is the acceptance of having been entrusted with the presence of the Holy Spirit who breathes God’s heavenly life into us, while we are just only bodily creatures of this earth.