For wisdom is a kindly spirit, yet she acquits not the blasphemer of his guilty lips; Because God is the witness of his inmost self and the sure observer of his heart and the listener to his tongue. For the Spirit of the Lord fills the world, is all-embracing, and knows what man says. Wisdom 1:6-7
And the Apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith." The Lord replied, "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 17:5-6
Piety
The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear? The LORD is my life’s refuge; of whom should I be afraid? One thing I ask of the LORD; this I seek: To dwell in the LORD’s house all the days of my life, to gaze on the LORD’s beauty, to visit his temple. For God will hide me in his shelter in time of trouble, He will conceal me in the cover of his tent; and set me high upon a rock. (Psalm 27:1, 4-5)
Mary, woman of faith, be with us.
Study
Does it seem like it might have been easier to talk about mustard-seed-sized faith two thousand years ago? It was an agrarian economy on land and a seafaring economy on the coastlines. Was it easier for Jesus to preach on these topics before humanity split the atom, before politics split public opinion, or before theological arguments split the Church into multitudes?
Today, some may think that our Unseen yet all-powerful God yielded influence to evil. We have death camps, refugee camps, and isolation camps to contain diseases like bird flu, Zika virus and more. We have seemingly endless wars on terrorism, nuclear saber-rattling, semi-automatic gunfights on our city streets and even in our churches. We have corrupt companies and governments that pollute the water pipes in Flint, Michigan and the lungs in New Delhi. We have shootings and beatings of innocent civilians.
God may be present but God seems depressingly silent. How can we possibly have the faith of a mustard seed?
“In times when we are the only ones to witness against public sin or private corruption, the “mighty fortress” that is God feels mighty defenseless indeed. We sing and nothing happens. The situation stays the same. Nothing changes. Nothing gets better. Nothing goes away. Fear nibbles daily at the doors of our heart. [i]
Things cannot be this bad, can they? How can we escape the darkness to penetrate its mystery and assure ourselves that it is light?
The one place and one person exemplifying that the mustard seed of faith is
sure to grow it would be at the birthplace of Jesus in Bethlehem in the person of his biological and our spiritual Mother. That is the where we can look for proof that the seed of God which is planted in every bleak field of life sprouts for us no matter what we face. Maybe we should add a mustard plant outside our Nativity scenes this holiday season.
 |
| The Nativity: A Model of Faith |
Where Mary could have seen only darkness – the long trip, the hard circumstances, the undignified surroundings, the lack of family and friends – she brought the light of faith. Where danger was palpable around them, the serenity of faith smothered fear because Mary opened herself to believe that what God had begin in her, God would bring to fullness. And, with that surety, to the heart of confusions she brought the witness of the kind of confidence that comes from seeing through darkness to what others do not see.[ii]
Mary of the Nativity is the model of the openness of the mustard seed, of the kind and amount of faith that is needed in our lives, too.
Action
In what do you have faith? What gives you hope in these darkening autumn days as winter approaches? Is your faith large enough for you to be convicted?
[i] “In Pursuit of Peace: Praying the Rosary Through the Psalms” by Joan D. Chittister, OSB. Erie, Pennsylvania. 1992. Pax Christi USA.
[ii] Ibid.
Image credit: From the above pamphlet, by Mary Southard, CSJ, a Sister of St. Joseph of LaGrange, Illinois. Mary's work can be seen at http://www.marysouthardart.org/
No comments:
Post a Comment