Sunday, October 02, 2016 27th Sunday
in Ordinary Time 1st Reading: Hb 1:2-3; 2:2-4
2nd Reading: 2 Tim 1:6-8, 13-14 Gospel: Lk 17:5-10
The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” And the Lord said, “If you have faith even the size of a mustard seed, you may say to this tree: ’Be uprooted and plant yourself in the sea,’ and it will obey you.
“Who among you would say to your servant coming in from the fields after plowing or tending sheep: ’Come at once and sit down at table’? No, you tell him: “Prepare my dinner. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink; you can eat and drink afterwards.” Do you thank this servant for doing what you commanded? So for you! When you have done all that you have been told to do, you must say:
’We are no more than servants; we have only done our duty.’”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
The request of the disciples for increase in faith presumed two things: that they had faith needing augmentation, and that faith was important to them. As to the first presumption Jesus exclaimed: “If only you have faith even the size of a mustard seed”. The smallest morsel of faith is more than enough to do wonders in a person. Judging from how the disciples distanced themselves from the suffering Messiah at Calvary, we doubt if they had even but the smallest grain of faith.
Jesus affirmed the disciples’ second presumption that faith is important. He said: “If you have faith even the size of a mustard seed, you may say to this tree: ’Be uprooted and plant yourself in the sea,’ and it will obey you.” Mountains represent problems. Faith builds up in us strong trust in God and makes us prevail over impossible situations. Who, then, does not need faith? That faith is important to life is an understatement. Faith to a Christian is life itself.
The disciples were too presumptuous when they asked Jesus to increase their faith. There was none to increase, in the first place. Whatever faith they thought they had could not pass the test of genuineness as laid down in today’s Gospel parable of a dedicated servant. He knows no rest. He has to work in the field by day and work for the master in his house by sundown. Genuine faith partakes of the fidelity of a servant. It doesn’t grow tired and it knows no rest. Because faith is life itself, it works like the human heart. As the human heart dies when it stops beating even for some minutes, so faith dies when it takes a break. Judging from how the disciples distanced themselves from the suffering Messiah at Calvary, we doubt if they had even but the smallest grain of faith. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM, MMExM, MAPM, REB. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com.
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