And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” - Luke 17:5


“Faith is a jump into the arms of God, even when all odds are against us, and if this faith is put into practice and tested in the fire of afflictions, it will steadily turn us into better persons and even give us power to work for a better world”

The readings today teach us about faith. In the Gospel, Jesus compared faith to a tiny mustard seed. The power of the seed doesn’t depend on its size but on the life it may create. Also, the power of our faith doesn’t depend on its quantity but on its quality. We would be fooling ourselves if we think that the more prayers we say, the more faith we have. True faith is more than that.

In the 2nd reading, St. Paul tells us, “But with the strength which comes from God bears your share of the hardship which the gospel entails” (2 Tim 1:8). Through our hardships our faith is best tested. When we have problems, sometimes we tend to think that we can’t solve it or it’s impossible. For the past months, I kept whining about my studies. “Kapoy na”, “Magshift na ako”, “Useless magstudy, bagsak gihapon.” Few weeks ago, I realized I just have to put a complete trust on the Lord and just jump into His arms, claiming nothing bad will happen to me if I just cling unto Him.

Since final exams are fast approaching, we should see it with eyes of faith. “If you had faith, you would have power to command trees to be uprooted and transplanted into the sea” (Lk. 17:6). With faith, we may not be able to literally move trees but will have the power to get through with getting paperworks done and passing our exams. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we should ask the Lord to “Increase our faith”.

-Iana Navarro

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