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Gospel: Luke 17: 5-10
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.
“Who among you would say to your servant
who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field,
‘Come here immediately and take your place at table’?
Would he not rather say to him,
‘Prepare something for me to eat.
Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink.
You may eat and drink when I am finished’?
Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded?
So should it be with you.
When you have done all you have been commanded,
say, ‘We are unprofitable servants;
we have done what we were obliged to do.'”
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!
***
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.
***
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.
***
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.
***
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.
***
Allow me to conclude with a story whose future is yet to be written:
Two years ago – around the same time Captain Tom started walking around his garden, a small suburban parish was without a pastor. For six months, church attendance – and belief in the sustainability of this community – was slipping.
Suddenly, a young priest with little leadership experience is appointed shepherd of that parish.
Word spreads. Belief grows. One by one, people choose to, “Come and see.” Then they get involved. Suddenly, a sense of real change is coming. Teamwork is making the dream work.
We, too, are like a tiny mustard seed, “the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.”
But we will become, “the largest of plants,” as Jesus says.
Look at what the Lord has already done through us:
We have a dedicated staff; a parish pastoral council – the first in twenty years; a finance council that includes new and seasoned leadership; two choirs; a number of new ministries; a basketball court and (soon to be) a playground.
We even started a conversation about mental health, having a 13-year NFL veteran come to speak last week.
It all began with a tiny mustard seed.
***
A 99-year-old man fundraises $40 million.
A nun from nowhere propels poverty onto the world stage.
A Church with one billion followers starts with twelve.
Now imagine what we can do.
For God is with us.
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Image credits: (1) Faith Spilling Over (2) Twitter (3) Brandon Marshall at SPX with St. Pius X youth.
