Finding More Faith: Homily for the 27th Sunday OT 2025

27^th Sunday of Ordinary Time, C                      October 5, 2025
Fr. Alexander Albert                                                         St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville

“Increase our faith!” Ten out of Ten, excellent prayer, would recommend. Learn from the Apostles to pray like that. One man says to Jesus, “I believe, help my unbelief!” I try to pray that prayer every day. Faith is a gift, so asking for it is a particularly effective way to increase it. It also helps to remind us that it is a supernatural virtue infused into the soul by God. So, when interacting with those who don’t have faith, it’s not as simple as telling them, “believe in Jesus!” It’s why we can’t force people to be Christians; it requires faith and faith is a gift.

At the same time, however, faith is still a virtue. A virtue is a good habit, a capacity, a practiced ability to do something good. That means that, once we’ve received the initial gift of faith, we can and in fact should practice it in order to increase it just as you would practice any other virtue or skill: music, sports, public speaking, etc. Practice makes perfect and that is especially true with faith, hope, and love.

This duality of faith as both gift and virtue is why Jesus answers the Apostles’ prayer in this way. Certainly, he could just snap his fingers and instill more faith in us – and sometimes God does that – but he’s also talking to men who already have faith. It’s like the coach who goes easy on the new player, but tears into the guy he knows can do better. So, Jesus answers their prayer by telling them to develop what they already have in two ways: Reflection and Practice.

The first thing he does is give a somewhat crazy example: “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.” This example forces them to work at understanding what faith is. Jesus is not saying that, if we muster up enough willpower, we can just speak words and do magical stuff. Faith is not willpower, it is trust in God. What Jesus means that, if God told you to move a tree by your words and then you trusted him enough to try it, it would work. Usually, God does not command us to mystically transport trees. Yet, our history is full of examples of saints who, inspired first by God, did amazing things when they trusted him enough to ask for seemingly impossible things.

The point here is to create wonder in the minds and hearts of the Apostles, to get us to go “wow, God’s power really is infinite. If I trust him, I can do whatever he asks even if it seems impossible.” We should reflect on God’s power often. We should meditate on the ways God has worked miracles through the trusting obedience of his servants. We should resolve in our hearts to trust his power more than our limitations.

The second thing is to practice the faith they already have. Faith is not just belief in ideas, it is acting on trust. That’s why Jesus gives this example of how, in order for a servant to receive his meal, he should first complete his task of serving the master’s meal. Such a servant trusts his master to give him his food in due time and he proves that trust by serving him without complaint. If we want to “eat” the meal of doing miracles by faith, then we should first “serve” the Lord his meal by doing what he’s already asked us to do. We should demonstrate and practice our faith in being faithful servants. The very process of acting on trust is itself what increases our trust and faith.

This is why most of the miracles we know about come through people living radically holy lives. They’ve increased their faith by doing the ordinary Christian stuff so it’s easier for them to then respond with trust when God inspires them to do miraculous things. God can and does do miracles through people who aren’t yet saints… it’s just that we often lack the faith to be open to that because we haven’t gotten very good at being faithful to what God has already asked us to do.

So, if you want more faith – and you really should! – then do these three things: First, ask for it in prayer every day! Secondly, study scripture and the lives of the saints so you can remind yourself and inspire yourself with confidence in God’s power. Thirdly, practice it by doing what God has already asked of you!

And what has God asked of you? The Ten Commandments, love one another as he has loved us, the five precepts of the Church. Mass, Confession, Communion, penance and fasting, and, yes, supporting the Church financially. It’s not the only thing or the most important thing, but it is in fact one of the things God has asked of you. Don’t ruin your family’s well-being or go bankrupt, but it is true that giving generously and sacrificially is part of how you increase your faith. Please commit to give something each and every month, no matter how small – even a mustard seed can do a lot! – so that your trust in God can grow. And never forget that what matters even more is loving God and neighbor.

Increase our faith, Lord! Remind us of your power, provide for us what we need, and help us to serve you, to do at least what we’re obliged to do so that one day, we too can share in the eternal feast to which you have called us all. Amen.