27th Sunday Ordinary C/ Faith Greater than Mustard Seed
 

Hab 1:2-3; 2:2-4/ Ps 95/ 2 Tim 1:6-8, 13-14/ Lk 17:5-10
  Introduction
 

          Last time I was driving, I passed by a quarry where they were removing the top soil and stones from a mountain. My friend told me that they were constructing a port and they needed enough materials for it. Few months later when I saw the same mountain again, it was almost flattened.  It was unbelievable how they where able to transfer the whole mountain to the shore. The engineers have done the “impossible” because they have enough “faith” in themselves. They were confident that they can transfer the whole mountain into the sea – slowly, patiently, day by day, and truck by truck.  I realized that Faith is not only a matter of just believing in God. It is not just praying up at the sky waiting for the graces to come down. No, I don’t think so. Faith is “doing.” If you have enough faith you will exert efforts to so that you can move the “mountain of prayers” into the “sea of blessings”

  
  Background
 
    1. It is the spiritual master’s obligation to teach his disciples how to pray and to develop their faith so that they can move on. Jesus was known for his mastery in spiritual and moral teaching that’s why many people come to him for his teaching. His own disciples called him teach them how to pray and increase their faith.During those times there were no knives, forks or napkins. Food was eaten with the hands and in very wealthy houses; the hands were cleansed by wiping them on hunks of bread, which were then thrown away. Lazarus was waiting for that bread to fall from the rich man’s table. That’s how poor he was.

    1. Jesus used the analogy of a Mulberry tress being transferred into the sea. It is way of using a very relevant analogy. Mulberry tree is a huge tree that seldom grows near the shore. It is usually seen in far mountain top.  Using a big tree to be uprooted and be transferred into the sea is next to impossible. It is another way of saying that faith is to make the impossible - possible.

    2. Servants and their master have a very unique relationship. Servants do not usually expect for extra “tip” from their master after doing his work. It is their joy that they were able to serve their master. It is their happiness when they see that his master is satisfied by what he did. They were convinced that they had no right to demand anything from his master. In their mind they just did what they are supposed to do. It is the masters’ sole decision if he will give extra gift to his servant for doing their job.
 
  Reflection:  
 
  1. Like the apostles who said “Lord increase our faith,” we ourselves also need to ask the same help from God When you ask for faith you have to work for it and you have to nurture it and do something to make it grow. When we were baptized that seed of faith was planted by the Spirit into our souls. As we grow physically, our faith in God must also grow with it, by receiving the other sacraments and by learning our doctrines.  Faith is not a passive spiritual concept, rather it should be an active expression of our profound relationship with God.
  2. Faith is not just believing. It is believing “with trust” to that someone you believe in. Today that we celebrate the “Respect to Life Sunday” it is sad to realize that some parents think that having child is a very costly responsibility. Unfortunately those mothers who think they are not yet prepared to have a baby usually go to abortion. They are so afraid in responsibility that they thought it will be a long struggle of “her and her child, against the world.” They failed to put God in the equation. Parents should realize that every child is a gift from God. And when God give you that precious gift, trust him that he will take care both of you. You don’t need only to believe in Him, you have to place your complete trust in Him.

    Every night I am praying for my mother who passed away. For fifteen years I never stop remembering her in my masses. I hope she is happy for having a son, priest, especially now that she lives in the other world, and in need prayers. If she will be like other mother who thinks of aborting me, then he will not have a son priest, who will remember her everyday in the altar of God. I could image if one of those children that was killed in abortion could be the very same people who will pray for them when they needed it most. They will be very sorry for what they did. We must always that life will never be a problem or a curse. Every life is a gift from God, every child is blessing from above.

  3. As we listen to the last part of the Gospel, Christ mentioned the parable where the servant served his master unconditionally. The master has no obligation to repay him because the servant just did what he must do. Salvation is a grace freely given to whomever He wishes to give it. We can not simply earn it by efforts alone.
 
  Conclusion  
 

         In my life as priest who served him for 11 years, I can not boast anything to God.  I have no right to claim for myself the grace of eternal life. Like any other priest, I feel that I am just doing my work that I promised during my ordination. Like the apostles I also pray that Christ may increase my faith so that at the end my life he may look at me with mercy and forgiveness and receive that gift of eternal life.