I
often find myself saying, “I did it.” A small kindness, a prayer whispered, a
task completed, and I take the credit as if faith were mine to own. Yet the
Gospel unsettles me: the servant says, “We have only done what we ought to do.”
And suddenly I see that faith is not my achievement. It is God’s grace moving
quietly through me. We know the mustard seed. Tiny, almost invisible, yet
whole. It dares to fall, to be buried in darkness, to disappear where no one
sees. And in that surrender, life begins. Faith too is never passive. It acts,
it trusts, it serves, not waiting for comfort or certainty but alive, daring,
moving.
We
witness the same in the life of St. Francis of Assisi whose feast we celebrated
on the 4th of October. He gave up security, wealth and pride not to prove
himself but to let God’s life breathe through him. His faith became action,
touching lepers, praising creation, rebuilding what was broken. He did not say,
“I did it,” but let every act speak of grace. And we see it too in our migrant
brothers and sisters. With no roof above their heads, no familiar land beneath
their feet, no promise of tomorrow, they keep walking. Their hearts ache with
loss, yet they embrace the unknown with unconditional trust. They show us that
faith is not convenience but surrender, not possession but grace in
action.
I
am reminded of a story of a tightrope walker who amazed the crowd by carrying
heavy weights across a rope stretched above a waterfall. The people clapped,
convinced he could do anything. Then he asked, “Do you believe I can carry
someone across in this wheelbarrow?” They shouted, “Yes, we believe!” But when
he asked who would sit inside, silence fell. Faith is not applauding from a
safe distance. It is daring to trust, to step in, to let ourselves be carried.
So
perhaps this Gospel invites us to stop clutching at ownership, to stop saying,
“I did it” and to let faith be what it truly is: a gift that acts through us, a
seed that grows in surrender, a grace that carries us forward. For when we
allow faith to be grace in motion, even the smallest seed can move mountains
and even the most fragile heart can carry the weight of hope.
- Lilly Pushpam PBVM
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