By Tarsish Marak, CSC –
Readings: Heb 1: 2-3, 2:2-4j; 2Tim 1:6-8, 13-14; Lk 17:5-10
The readings are all about ‘faith’. The apostles after being with master recognize their little faith, and feel that they are unworthy to be with him. Jesus compares faith with mustard seed. He said that ‘if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this tree to move away and it would obey you.”
The apostles, because they had desire to be like master, feel that they do not have enough faith to be with him and to continue his mission. Therefore, they surrender to Jesus and ask their faith to increase and make their faith strong.
In our day to day life too we admire some of our fellow friends and confreres for their excellent performances and we want to be like them. But we need to ask ourselves, ‘are we really committed to our duty or are we really faithful to the work assigned to us?’ If we are faithful and committed to the activities, we are faithful to god. As someone said, “work is a prayer.” God can do wonders in our life.
But if we are not prepared well to receive God’s grace, God can do nothing. We too need to make effort and initiative to deepen our faith in Christ. God is ever ready to pour his grace on us; God is present in us and knows our thoughts and actions. If we can work and live according to the spirit of God then we can say as St. Paul says, ‘it is not I but Christ who lives in me’. So, to increase our faith just seeking is not enough, both “action and contemplation” have to go together. And always ask God to give us the eagerness to increase our faith deep down within us.
St. Paul says “for gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control”, so let us ask God to rekindle our faith and put it into practice today and every day.