“Look, Listen and Act”

Habakkuk 1:1 to 2:4 begins with the prophet’s reproach to God: “Why do you not listen!”  

I cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not intervene. Why do you let me see ruin? Why must I look at misery?  

God’s answer is to tell Habakkuk to look up instead of just around, and to “write down the vision” that he sees. God is going to act, and is acting now. But he is acting through human beings, and this slows down the pace of redemption! Things will change when people change and change them. As children, we learned the “Prayer to the Holy Spirit”: “Lord, send forth your Spirit and our hearts will be regenerated.” And then: “You will renew the face of the earth!” We have been saying this prayer for years; have we been praying it with conscious faith? Do we believe what we pray?  Do we believe it can happen now? (Theologians say, Lex orandi, lex credendi: “What we pray is what we believe.”)

God’s “now” is not always our “now,” but we have to act as if it is — and wait with undoubting hope. 

For the vision…  presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint. If it delays, wait for it. It will surely come. 

What is the vision? Habakkuk promises: 

The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea (2:14). 

And so: 

Though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit is on the vines; though the produce of the olive fails, and the fields yield no food; though the flock is cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will exult in the God of my salvation. 

GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, and makes me tread upon the heights  (3:17-19). 

As “faithful stewards” of the undeniable kingship of Christ, we continue to look at the vision, to listen to God’s words, and to act to establish the “reign of God” on earth — “an eternal and universal kingdom: a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace” (Preface, Feast of Christ the King). 

“If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” 

Insight: What is your real source of confidence? How does faith empower you?

Initiative: Set aside five minutes a day to look, listen, and decide on one action. Then do it!

— Fr. David M. Knight

View today’s Mass readings, Lectionary #141, on the USCCB website here

Fr. David M. Knight (1931-2021) was a priest of the Diocese of Memphis in Tennessee, a prolific writer, and a highly sought after confessor, spiritual director, and retreat master. He authored more than 40 books and hundreds of articles that focus primarily on lay spirituality and life-long spiritual growth.