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Luke 17: 1-6
Jesus said to his disciples,
“Things that cause sin will inevitably occur,
but woe to the one through whom they occur.
It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck
and he be thrown into the sea
than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.
Be on your guard!
If your brother sins, rebuke him;
and if he repents, forgive him.
And if he wrongs you seven times in one day
and returns to you seven times saying, ‘I am sorry,’
you should forgive him.”
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.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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In April 2020, a ninety-nine-year-old British World War Two veteran, Captain Tom Moore, wanted to raise money to support people who became ill with COVID.
He promised to walk one-hundred laps around his garden with his walker before his 100th birthday, only a few weeks away.
His goal was to raise one-thousand British pounds, roughly $1,200.
Then his story went viral. What started as a humble effort to help a neighbor exploded into a global obsession.
Captain Tom captivated the hearts of 1.5 million people, raising over $40 million!
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Captain Tom’s story reminds us that God works in mysterious ways, often using simple ideas and ordinary people to change the world.
A mustard seed, as Jesus says in the Gospel, is the smallest of seeds. But when sown into the ground, it becomes the largest of plants.
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Consider another “mustard seed” story: Mother Teresa.
In 1950, she started a small religious order in India, whose mission was, in her words, “To care for the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society.”
Who would be interested in leaving a comfortable existence behind to follow her?
Today there are over 5,000 Missionaries of Charity serving in 139 countries with 760 homes for the homeless, the sick, and the dying.
Volunteers from our own parish prepare food every Monday morning in our soup kitchen and hand deliver it to the Missionaries of Charity in Newark, where they feed the hungry.
The world’s attention – our attention – turned to the poorest of the poor.
And all started with a single mustard seed 70 years ago.
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The same is true for the Church.
Jesus started with twelve Apostles. They were ordinary men; uneducated; tax collectors; fishermen; sinners. One of them, Judas, even betrayed Jesus, abandoning him and the others.
Mysteriously, the Church has grown since then by one-million percent! Nearly 1 in 6 people – 1.2 billion on earth – identify as Catholic.
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A 99-year-old man with a walker fundraises $40 million.
A nun from nowhere propels poverty onto the world stage.
A Church with one billion followers starts with twelve.
The power of a mustard seed.
Now imagine what God can do through you.
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Image credits: (1) Hutto Bible Church (2) ABC (3) Desert Streams Ministries