Jesus said to his disciples, "Things
that cause sin will inevitably occur, but woe to the one through whom they
occur. It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and
he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to
sin.
Be on your guard! If your brother sins,
rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he wrongs you seven times in
one day and returns to you seven times saying, 'I am sorry,' you should forgive
him."
And the Apostles said to the Lord,
"Increase our faith." The Lord replied, "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."
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
The story is told about a woman who wants
her faith to increase she practically did everything to have it. She went to
church regularly, read the bible and she did a devotion to the blessed Mother.
However, she noticed that her faith did not increase.
She even shouted, “Increase my faith O
Lord” but there was no increase in her faith. In fact she noticed that her
faith was actually diminishing because she was more trusting on herself than
the Good Lord. Why? For the simple reason that she remained arrogant
towards her relatives and friends. She always wants to have her way in
everything that she does: in short there was no change in her egotistical
behavior.
What must we do for us to have an increase
in our faith? We must be humble at all times, before God and before our
fellowmen. We must trust God more than we trust ourselves. We attract graces
(including the grace of faith) if we are humble and if we bow our heads before
God.
When we’re humble and more trusting in God
it simply means that we’re opening ourselves for heavenly graces. That God pours
to those who are always ready to accept it with humility. What happens if we’re
arrogant and we trust more on ourselves? We’re shutting ourselves from God
blessings, that’s how plain and simple it is.
We cannot anymore fill a glass full of
water, this is the arrogant and self-trusting person who is always full of
himself. But we can certainly pour more water to a half-empty glass, this is
the person who trusts and humbles himself before God. – Marino J.
Dasmarinas