Homily: 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time
October 5, 2025
My dear brothers and sisters, the gospel reading of today centers on this virtue of growth in the faith. The Apostles of Jesus asked Him: Lord, increase our faith and Jesus in reply said to them, “if you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” One great merit of this Jesus’ teaching on deep faith is that it encourages us to always have a positive approach to our relationship with God. If we approach our spiritual life with faith, even that which looks completely impossible becomes possible. Lk 1:37, “For nothing will be impossible with God.” It is a fact of life that if we approach a thing saying, ‘it can’t be done,’ it will not be done, this is the power of negativity, but, if we approach it saying, ‘it must be done,’ the chances are pretty high that it will be done - the power of positivity.
Jesus’ statement is a sort of a figure of speech. It means that even if our faith is small like the grain of mustard seed, it can remove mountains of difficulties, it can remove mountains of perplexities, it can remove mountains of sins. In our communities and families, sometimes we find grudges and misunderstandings that seem impossible to heal, two families are at loggerheads for generations, two women have refused to greet each other since their youth. Some addictions have seemed to be our second nature. Our faith in God can make that which seem impossible in the sight of men to become very possible. We remember Psalm 97:5, “at the presence of Lord, the mountains melt like wax.”
We heard the word of God in the first reading of today, “the righteous persons shall live by their faith.” These words were spoken by prophet Habakkuk to the Israelites who were discouraged by the injustice done to them by the Babylonians. The Babylonians decimated the Israelites, took them captives and plundered the temple of Jerusalem. The sight of ruins and the rubble for the Israelites was a sight of total hopelessness. It was in this utter hopelessness that the prophet Habakkuk strengthened them with the prophecy that the righteous persons shall live by faith. And this prophecy has remained true forever, those who remained faithful to God, those who persevered in righteousness have endured forever and ever in the sight of God.
Imagine the stupendous achievements that have been made by remaining faithful to God. In the lives of the apostles of Jesus for instance, after the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus to heaven, continuing the work of evangelization was dangerous. The future then seemed bleak. If Jesus Himself; the Lord and Master was killed brutally, wiping out the apostles was a very easy task. However, even with the future that was filled with uncertainties and hostilities, the apostles remained faithful to the end. The result was that even amidst bitter persecution, they spread the message of salvation to different parts of the world.
Faith is a priceless gift which God gives to humanity. We can lose this priceless gift if we do not handle it with care. A bad lifestyle can cause a shipwreck to our faith. We must know that only a faith which is a living and growing power like the mustard seed in the soil that will triumph over difficulties. For our faith to be alive and strong, it has to be firmly rooted in the word of God and rooted in the faith of the Church. We have to be connected to Jesus the powerhouse through prayers, John 15:5, “cut off from me you can do nothing.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church no. 162 tells us, “to live, grow, and persevere in the faith until the end we must nourish it with the word of God.” This remains eternally true because faith comes from hearing. Like the apostles we continue to pray to Jesus: Lord increase our faith.
