Sunday, October 06, 2013
27th Sundy
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 presupposed two things: that they had faith needing augmentation, and that they found faith important. Jesus addressed both presumptions. In regard to the first Jesus exclaimed: “If only you have faith even the size of a mustard seed”. What a thought-provoking remark! The slightest drop of faith is supposed to do wonders in a person already. This remained to be seen in the disciples. Judging from how they distanced themselves from the suffering Messiah at Calvary, we doubt if they had even but the smallest grain of faith.
The disciples were correct in their presumption that faith is important. In affirming them Jesus said that faith can move mountains. However they were wrong in asking for increase in faith because there was nothing to increase, in the first place, for they had none. Sweeping? Not if we talk about genuine faith as today’s Gospel reading does. The last paragraph of today’s Gospel reading brings in the parable of a dedicated servant who serves both in the field where he is sent to work all day and in the master’s house to which he returns at the end of the day. This is the story of genuine faith. 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 the moment it stops beating so faith dies the moment it stops working. In light of this the faith of the disciples died out of inconsistency. It died ahead of Jesus when the disciples abandoned him during the Passion.
Like the disciples we too cannot ask for any increase in faith for we really don’t have any. Let us ask God for the gift of integral faith and the grace to keep it alive and moving by making it work twenty four hours a day.— Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM . Email: [email protected]. Website: www.frdan.org.
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