Memorial of St. Francis Xavier, Priest
“Let it be done for you according to your faith.” How many of us, if we heard this, would get nervous? I would. Do I really have faith? Is it at least as big as a mustard seed? Yesterday we said we must live by faith. How do we do that?
If we take the mustard seed analogy, we find some help. For years I thought having the faith of a mustard seed must mean I could, with Hollywood dramatics, reach out my hands and move a mountain, but I couldn’t even move an anthill. Did I not have faith?
The mustard seed is tiny and slowly grows into a large bush. That growth is the key. Each day it increases by a tiny amount, nearly imperceptible until one day it is grown. Faith must be lived the same way. Faith is a small daily act that slowly moves the mountain, bucket full by bucket full. Faith is nonstop action. It will work if we are willing to do the small daily things to move toward something great in the faith. Then one day, we notice it is done!
What are the small one percent change you can make day in and day out so that at the end of, let’s say, one year, you have magnified that work? What would happen if you did it over a lifetime? So, let your life be done according to your faith.
Reflection by Fr. Etienne Huard, OSB
Posted in Articles for Advent, Daily Reflections