Habakkuk 1:12 - 2:4 / Matthew 17:14-20
One famous proverb is this: Patience is a virtue.
And so indeed it is. With patience, we will be able to stay calm, and not get angry during difficult and challenging times.
But to be patient is essentially to wait.
To wait for the person to come; to wait for the person to finish speaking; to wait for the situation to change.
And when it comes to faith, it means to wait for God to reveal His ways to us.
In the first reading, the Lord God answered the prophet Habakkuk’s prayer with this:
“Write the vision down, inscribe it on tablets to be easily read, since this vision is for its own time only. Eager for its own fulfilment, it does not deceive. If it comes slowly, wait, for come it will, without fail.”
So waiting in patience is an essential aspect of having faith.
In the gospel, the disciples were not able to cast out a boy who was possessed by a devil.
Jesus cast it out immediately, and so the disciples came privately to Jesus to ask why they were unable to cast it out.
As Jesus pointed out, it was essentially a faith issue, and the disciples need to let their faith grow and deepen before they can do the work of God.
Our faith is also like a mustard seed.
Let us have the patience to wait for our faith to grow and deepen before doing what God wants of us.