I recently heard the story of a woman, a mother of three, whose youngest son was born with a severe heart defect. The doctors told her the boy would not live past his second birthday. The woman did not have great wealth, nor did she have a medical degree. She had only her faith. Every night she would sit beside her son’s crib, rosary in hand, whispering, “Lord, I do not know what tomorrow holds, but I know who holds tomorrow, and that is enough for me!” The boy lived to see his third birthday, then his fourth, then his fifth. Today, that boy is a grown man with children of his own.
The woman’s faith did not move mountains in the literal sense, but it moved something much greater: fear. Her faith sustained her through nights of doubt and gave her strength to keep loving and living even when every medical chart said there was no reason to hope.
When the apostles came to Jesus in today’s Gospel passage to beg, “Increase our faith,” they were likely overwhelmed by the demands of life, discipleship, and uncertainty. Jesus did not hand them a large portion of faith as though faith were a ration to be measured. Instead, he points to the mustard seed: “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey.”
Why a mulberry tree? In Jesus’ time, it was known for its vast root system, which could live for centuries and was almost impossible to uproot. Jesus is saying that faith, even small, has the power to tackle what seems immovable in our lives: bitterness, injustice, fear, sickness, and sin itself.
The early Church Fathers grasped this truth. St. John Chrysostom explained that “faith is not measured by quantity but by quality.” One spark of true faith, he said, can ignite a soul more than a lifetime of lukewarm belief. This lesson is not new. Six centuries before Christ, the Prophet Habakkuk cried out in frustration: “How long, O Lord? I cry for help, but you do not listen!” He looked at a world riddled with violence, injustice, and suffering. God’s response was not an immediate solution but a promise: “The vision has its time… the just one, because of his faith, shall live.” God was saying, “Wait for me. Trust me. My timing is perfect, even if your eyes cannot yet see it.”
Jesus is not telling us to expect magical solutions or cheap miracles. He is inviting us to trust that even the smallest seed of faith, when placed in God’s hands, can do the impossible. Faith may not always change our circumstances overnight, but it always changes us. It gives us courage to endure, strength to forgive, and hope to keep walking. Faith begins with the little things in life. It grows with practice. Hence, St. Paul in today’s second reading says to Timothy: “Stir into flame the gift that is within you.” In other words, do not let your faith go cold. Fan it. Nourish it. Exercise it. Faith is like a muscle; it grows when we use it, not when we hide it away.
St Paul, in this second reading, identifies faith as a gift. The initiative and the process begin with God. The Catechism of the Catholic Church echoes this: “Faith is a personal adherence of the whole man to God who reveals himself” (CCC 176). So, faith is a personal and free response to God, who reveals himself. God first reveals himself, then we respond in faith. God reveals himself to us all through salvation history in several ways: in his creation, through his prophets, in our conscience, in private visions, and most definitively in the person, teaching, and deeds of his Son, Jesus Christ. The way we respond to the things we encounter in life, in our thoughts, words, and actions, shows whether we believe what God has revealed to us about himself.
In answer to the quest for more faith, Jesus explains to his disciples that it is not about how much faith we can acquire but about surrendering what little we have into God’s hands. The story of our salvation is the story of God, who shows us that he is trustworthy. It is the story of God, who expects us to live life without worrying about figuring life out. The faith Jesus is talking about is similar to the faith of the woman in our opening story, who did not wait to know what tomorrow holds, but was content in knowing the God who holds tomorrow.
Friends, what is that “tree” in your life right now that feels impossible to move? Is it a diagnosis? A strained relationship? A job that wears you down? A wound from the past? A test you are yet to pass? Some false allegations? Or maybe it is simply the heaviness of the world: wars, divisions, the weight of injustice that makes you cry like Habakkuk, “How long, O Lord?”
Today, I invite you to fan into flame that little faith, the size of a mustard seed that you have in you. Trust God with your tree. You do not need to know how, just rest in the knowledge that all things are possible with him. Remember that sometimes he saves us from our problems; other times, he saves us through them. May our faith in him never put us to shame until we come to our heavenly inheritance, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Homily for 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C 2025
I like it. Great words written Fada!