Ordinary Time, 27th Sunday (C) Faith seems to be a key concept for Jesus and for Catholics. "If only I had more faith, like my Grandma." The Apostles ask Jesus to increase their faith. Jesus responds with a seemingly crazy rant about a mulberry tree and unprofitable servants. Whenever Jesus doesn't make sense, we need to come around and see things from his perspective.

Uprooting mulberry trees and planting them in the sea is an impossible task. You can't do it. All you need is to have faith that God will do it. When you do, amazing things will happen. People will praise you for the great job you did and you will say, "I am an unprofitable servant."

I trusted God to take care of a busy weekend and he give me the energy I needed. I trusted God with a bigger task -- raising money for a new church -- and God took care of it.

When we look forward, we sometimes see a whole mulberry plantation in front of us. But when we look behind us, we can see that God has provided for us. Faith helps us to keep walking the right path, or to stay put when we face hardships, until we see God come through for us. In the midst of another busy time I am learning to trust and wait for God to uproot the mulberry trees.

(2 Oct 2022)

Going Deeper: Every Saturday I sit and review my past week. I noticed that prior to feeling overwhelmed and frustrated, I had two moments of joy and one moment of peace earlier in the week. I encourage you to pause each week to look back on your past week. Ask yourself:

1. My biggest blessing in the past week was …
2. My biggest challenge was …
3. Where did I notice God, and what was he doing or saying?
4. How did I respond to what God was doing?
5. I felt God’s love most strongly when …
6. I’m grateful for …
7. This past week, my strongest sense, image, moment, or experience of God’s loving presence was …

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