“The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith’.” Luke 17:5
That’s our problem – we’re always thinking about quantity and not about quality; we’re always thinking about wanting more and not preserving and protecting what’s been given to us or making it better. Jesus’ lesson today is that the amount of our faith doesn’t matter; what matters is what we do with the faith which we receive. Do we use it by praying, worshiping, and taking care of our spiritual well-being? Do we use it to do God’s will, to share God’s love, and be God’s presence to others in our life? Do we therefore guard and take care of our faith? In all, it’s not about asking for more faith; it’s about working tirelessly to build up our faith and guarding it against complacency. Look at it this way, in so many things in life, we have no problem persevering. If it’s sports, for example, we just practice harder. If it’s academic, we just study harder. If it’s a job that we want, we just work harder. You get the idea. We do this all the time with things of the world or the things that pass away. Can’t we then do it as well with the one thing that’s forever? You see … once we’ve nurtured our faith and our work in faith is done on earth, we will receive our heavenly reward.
This week, the Church remembers Saint John XXIII, Pope, a man who opened the doors of the Church to the 20th century by convening the Second Vatican Council. Here’s a man who understood that faith wasn’t about quantity but quality, cooperating constantly with God’s grace. He sought love and mercy seeing them, and not severity, as the greatest medicines of faith, which also set the tone for the Council. His work but above all his faith continues to inspire the faithful not to be complacent but work towards an experience of faith that simply brings us closer to the heart of Jesus Christ – to the heart of his mercy and love. Today, we could ask for Saint John XXIII to intercede for us as we look at the quality of our faith and seek to protect it from whatever impairs it.
In Christ
Fr Robert