TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
2 OCTOBER 2016
Saint
Paul knows that his friend Timothy is discouraged. Things had not been going well for Timothy as
he leads the Christian community. So
Paul writes to him and speaks from his own experience. He had been persecuted, rejected, and
imprisoned for preaching the Gospel.
From his prison cell, Paul gives solid advice. He reminds Timothy of the flame of faith
given to him first at his baptism, and then again when Paul had laid hands on
him to entrust to him the apostolic duty of guarding the rich deposit of faith. Paul encourages him not to give in to a
spirit of cowardice and to use his God-given gifts of power and love and
self-control.
Those gifts
are worth examining. The Greek word for
“power” is the root word for our English word, “dynamite.” If Timothy can use his power in a positive
way, he can do what God does. Instead of
blowing up what holds the community together, Timothy can use his power to
shake things up, bring hope from despair, and forgiveness from resentment. The word he uses for “love” has nothing to do
with feelings or emotions. He speaks of
the love of Jesus Christ, who gave completely of himself for our
salvation. Even if Timothy gets nothing
back in return, his active love for his people will build up his community in
ways he cannot imagine. Finally, Timothy
needs to use his gift of self-control.
If he is going to fan the flame of faith into a fire that cannot be extinguished,
he needs to be disciplined in living his vocation.
In today’s
Gospel, the Apostles are beginning to understand that being a disciple can be
difficult and demanding. So, they ask
Jesus to increase their faith. He tells
them that if they have faith the size of a mustard seed (which is really
small), they can accomplish wonders, like causing mulberry trees to fly into
the sea! Jesus does not use the word
“faith” as a quantity which can be measured.
Rather, faith is a deep and abiding trust in God and God’s working in
our world. Trusting in God admits that
they can accomplish very little on their own.
As long as they see themselves as servants of the Gospel and give
themselves continually in humble service, their faith will allow God to
accomplish more than they can ever imagine.
Last month,
Pope Francis declared Mother Teresa a Saint.
With faith the size of a mustard seed, she began her ministry of service
by picking up lepers and dying people from the streets of Calcutta and caring
for them. As we know from one of her
biographers, she often did not feel anything of God’s presence. But she persisted with her mustard seed of
faith and her humble service. Today, her
community of sisters has extended to the entire world, caring for those most at
the fringes of society. Hundreds of them
gathered in Saint Peter’s Square for her canonization. It was her faith (the size of a mustard seed)
in God and her humble service that accomplished more than she could ever have
imagined.
Each of us
has some degree of faith. Otherwise, we
would not be here today. Even if our
faith is the size of the mustard seed, we struggle to trust in God. That faith enables us to accomplish what
seems to be beyond our strength. We can
use the gift of power to forgive terrible hurts and blow up lingering
resentments that paralyze us from reaching out to those who have harmed us. We may not be capable on our own, but God can
work through us. We can use the gift of
love to put ourselves in humble service of others. Like Mother Teresa’s investment, the Lord can
transform our acts of service into something truly beautiful beyond our
imagining. We can use the gift of
self-control to order our lives in such a way that God can work through us and
our actions. After all, we are
unprofitable servants. We cannot
accomplish much on our own and from our limited perspective. But, God can accomplish incredible things
through us, as long as we use those gifts given to us at our Baptism: power, love, and self-control.
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