A legend says that once upon a time, a Japanese peasant died and went to heaven. The first thing that he saw was a long shelf with something very strange looking upon it.
“What is that?” he asked. “Is it something to make soup of?”
“No,” was the reply. “These are ears. They belonged to persons whom, when they lived on earth heard what they ought to do in order to be good, but they didn’t pay any attention to it. So when they died their ears came to heaven, but the rest parts of their bodies did not.”
After awhile the peasant saw another shelf with very queer things on it. “What is it?” he again asked. “Is that something to make soup of?”
“No,” was the answer. “These are tongues. They once belonged to people in the world who told people to do good and how to live good but they themselves never did as they told others to do. So when they died, their tongues came to heaven but the rest parts of their bodies could not enter.”
Then, again the peasant roamed around heaven and he saw another shelf. “What is it?” he asked again. “Is it something to make soup of?”
“No,” was again the answer. “These are hearts. They once belonged to people who enthusiastically preached about love, how to love others and be loved. But they themselves did not practice it. So when they died their hearts came to heaven but the rest parts of their bodies did not.”
Do each one of us wants to happen this in our own life? Maybe yes, maybe no. But the sure thing is this will happen to us if we do not move and act.
Well, our gospel today talks about faith. His apostles request Him: “Increase our faith.” And Jesus answered: “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”
A mustard seed is the smallest seed of all and only 3-4 meters long when it grows up. Sycamore is the hardest wood and it lasts for 600 years. Jesus uses this image to show the kind of faith He wants from us.
This passage talks about our attitude towards our faith. This attitude has to be acted upon as stated in the second part of the gospel – the parable of the mere servant that presents our active faith in God. In other words, this gospel talks about our attitude towards our faith and our active faith in God.
What supposed to be are the attitudes of a Christian towards his/her faith in God? Does it mean going to Mass every Sunday? Does it mean praying or having statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary and other saints in our house? Does it mean sharing one faith, one baptism and one Lord? Does it mean knowing the Apostles’ Creed, believing the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist and believing too in the Trinitarian God? Yes, but more than these. A Christian should not be known only by his/her attitude towards his/her faith but most especially on how he/she acts upon this faith through loving.
You know, sometimes, it is easy to be faithful and loving to God and to others when everything is going well for us just as it is easy to be loving and kind to pleasant and nice people. But we make so many excuses and we don’t want to perform our responsibilities as believing Christians. We don’t want to pray because we don’t have enough time and faith. We can’t be charitable because we’re still selfish. We can’t leave our sins and vices because we are still weak. It is because we say, “Sapagkat kami ay tao lamang, nagkakasala (We’re just human beings, sinful)”. This faith of ours is a weak faith and has no self-confidence, because for me faith means also trust.
Just like the story of a small boy and a passenger of a luxury ship. The ship was nearly sinking because of a very strong typhoon. Everybody was in panic, grabbing life jackets and lifeboats from each other. This little boy was sitting in a small chair as if nothing happened. He enjoyed watching the big waves. One adult passenger approached him and asked: “Boy, it seems that you don’t mind what is happening? Don’t you know that a few minutes from now we are going to sink?”
“Excuse me, sir,” the boy answered. “The captain of this ship is my father. And because he is my father, I trust him. Why am I afraid?”
Just like the captain of our lives is no other than God Himself.
So now we are challenged to do our duties as Christians and live with them by nurturing and developing the gift of faith. God says: “Do your best and I will do the rest.” If we are willing to share our 3Ts (Time, Talent and Treasure), we can make wonders. Even if we are so many but is not willing to share, nothing happen. Just like in our country today, 83% of the population are Catholics but how many of these Catholics are really committed Christian Catholics? Only few.
Faith in God presupposes faith in ourselves.