Pray with your whole heart!

   Do you want to move mountains?  Well, you can.  “Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” – [Matthew 17:20]  Jesus’ disciples wondered why they could not drive a demon from a boy.  He rebukes the demon and when the disciples ask why they could not, He tells them because of their “little faith”.

   This seems a bit odd though.  Jesus says it is because of their “little faith” and then says “if [they] have faith the size of a mustard seed” they could have driven out the demon.  Mustard seeds are pretty small.  Earlier in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the ‘birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.” – [Matthew 13:31-32]

   It appears that we are left with 2 options.  Jesus was comparing their faith to a mustard seed to indicate their faith was SO small.  Or Jesus was playing on His parable from earlier.  Personally, the second seems to make more sense to me.  If Jesus was playing on the parable, He seems to be saying their faith has not yet fully grown.

   Well, that begs the question of how do I get my faith to fully grow?  And now we are finally to the real question.  For your faith to be fully grown, you need to see your faith as what it is.  A belief in a person, namely Jesus Christ.  With that comes His Heavenly Father as our own and the Holy Spirit as the Advocate that guides us from within.  It is a family relationship.

   God is the Creator of the Universe and as such all of creation bends to His Will.  However, He does allow for one thing not to be subject to Him.  Our hearts.  He allows us to love, which conversely allows us to hate.  When we give God our whole heart, He rejoices in receiving love that He has been given us from the foundation of the world.  And what father when met with a child giving their whole heart would not grant the impossible?

   Jesus, You gave Your whole Heart to the Father through us that we might come with You to Heaven.  Within the Eucharist we receive, may we ever be aware of this reality and unite our hearts with Yours to the Father.  Amen.