Do we ever think about asking God to increase our faith? Increase my paycheck, or my bank account, but not my faith. I want to propose that asking for an increase in faith benefits us personally, collectively, and eternally.

Jesus responds to the Disciples’ request to increase their faith by saying:

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. Lk 17:6

It sounds ludicrously impossible.  If we have faith the size of a spec, we can do mighty things?

Has your curiosity ever driven you to find out the size of a mustard seed? It’s so tiny that the wind can easily sweep it away. Why does Jesus choose such a minute example to get His point across? He doesn’t say, If you have faith the size of Mt. Zion, anything is possible. After all, that would be an instant buzz kill. The size of a mountain? Forget it; I quit. It’s impossible.

Jesus encourages us to take a leap of faith because with Him, anything is possible.

One of our priests, in his homily on this Gospel, used props. He held up an apple and asked,

“Can you count the seeds in this apple?”  I heard random muffled guesses.

He then held up a small bag containing apple seeds. Eight, he said. This apple has eight seeds.

He held up a seed and asked, “How many apples come from this seed?”

Silence.

I have never thought about it that way before. It’s unknown because we cannot imagine the potential one tiny seed can yield. Nor can we guess the potential of the fruit we can bear from faith the size of a mustard seed in our own lives.

Nothing happens when we do nothing.

Our bodies need food to grow and become stronger. Our faith too must be nourished through prayer, good works, Mass and Eucharist, Reconciliation, and the Master Gardener, who tends and prunes it.

Jesus was telling His Disciples, and us today, that small efforts can produce incredible harvests. Small acts of kindness and love can change us and the world. Person by person, act by act, God blesses our efforts growing our faith and spreading good.

Faith grows when used. Faith that is not used, is lost.
It is that simple.
Use it or lose it.

How marvelous that something so minuscule, when tapped, can have an extraordinary impact on humanity.

Consider the small seed planted in the egg in a woman’s womb. It is microscopic by God’s design, yet it immediately begins to work, multiplying and forming the basis of whole systems and organs. That invisible seed, acting in accordance with the plan of the Creator, creates a human being with an immortal soul, made in the image of its Creator. That tiny creature becomes a unique and unrepeatable human being, one of a kind, cooperating with God’s design. They can move nations to peace, discover cures, rocket into space, save lives, and change the world. If that person has a vocation to the priesthood, by the power of Christ, he can forgive sins, cast out demons, catechize millions, and turn ordinary bread into the Body of Jesus Christ.

We have incredible potential when we apply ourselves. The same is true when it comes to faith.

‘Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.’     

St. Catherine of Siena

We underestimate the power of faith hidden in tiny seeds. We underestimate the power of what God can do with us, so we make excuses, give up easily, and fail to reach our world-changing spiritual potential.

Jesus is telling you and me that with faith, He can move mountains. Faith can make the impossible possible.

“Even a crumb of faith can do unthinkable, extraordinary things.
Pope Benedict XVI

Jesus, my Savior and Lord, increase our faith one hundred fold, that we may be your instruments, uprooting lies and heresy, generously spreading love, and bringing home a harvest of souls to your Eucharistic table.

Amen