Faith and a Mustard Seed

"If you have faith the size of a mustard seed,

you would say to this mulberry tree,

'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you."-Luke 17:6

This is the year of faith and the Lord speaks to us today through the wisdom of the Church in the Gospel reading.  I think that this reading is very literal and very relevant today.  The Holy Father has declared this year to be the year of faith and most, if not all, issues with the Church can be traced to their origin in a lack of faith.  

Cardinal Dolan wrote in his book, Priests for the Third Millenium, “I propose one of the reasons priests stumble and fall, or why they shrivel up into careless, crabby, comfortable, lazy bachelors, has little to do with vocation but everything to do with faith”.  At the time of writing the book, Cardinal Dolan was the rector for the North American College in Rome.  Why is this important?  Because the topic of faith for a priest should present itself in formation to become a priest.  This discernment should renew the faith for the seminarian and invigorate the vocation.  

All Christians should wrestle with their own faith and their relationship with God.  God is accessible from a secular, academic approach but God has revealed to us through scripture, and through his Son, that we have been adopted through Christ to be sons and daughters of God.  This belief is the invitation to come to know God as father.  If we believe, and know that God is our father, then we commit, and re-commit daily, to know God intimately.  God already knows us.  Scripture tells us that every hair on our heads is counted.  

I find that I struggle with faith.  I am not afraid to admit that my daily waking up and daily laying down is confirmed by my fear.  My fear is of not of any one thing but a conglomeration of many things.  Sometimes, I am driven back to earlier memories triggered by something in the present.  I may awaken at night to a sound or light and be afraid.  In those moments of fear, I forget that I am loved by a God who is the giver of life.  In those moments of fear, I forget the trust I profess in a God who is my advocate.  My faith is always renewed.  That same God I forgot, does not forget me.  I am constantly being strengthened by the Holy Spirit.  I am constantly being comforted in my weakness.  I am constantly being convicted of the faults that cause me to fall away from God.  

I reflect on my own struggles and some of the many things I’ve read, and I try not to reduce faith to a theological construct because faith is unique and personal every person.  Our faith is our reflection of our relationship with God.  God endows us each with the ability to love and be loved.  God creates and it is good.  God gives and it is good.  God takes away and it is good.  The challenge for us is to remember what faith is.  

The Epistle to the Hebrews assures us that “faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).  Our hope is in promise fulfilled in the resurrection of Christ.  His death is a participation in our fallen humanity and his resurrection is the promise of life for us who live, and die, with faith.  We sinned; Christ is sinless (even in his human life).  He became sin so that we might become righteous (2 Corinthians 5:21).  The saving act is finished in Christ.  Our only requirement is to have faith in God.  This requirement is often the most difficult to adhere to because of the simplicity of its action.  Faith is a movement of the heart, an inclination of the soul.  We believe.  We have faith.  And it is a gift.