First Reading: Habakkuk 1:2-3,2:2-4

Second Reading: 2 Timothy 1:6-8,13-14

Gospel: Luke 17:5-10

 

Today, the Reading from the Gospel begins like this: “The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’” (Lk 17:5). It seems that we can all make this our invocation. Let us too, like the Apostles, say to the Lord: “Increase our faith!”. Our faith is small, our faith is weak and fragile, but we offer it to the Lord as it is, so that he can make it grow. 

 

And how does the Lord answer us? He responds: “If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say …” (v. 6). A mustard seed is tiny, yet Jesus says that faith this size, small but true and sincere, suffices to achieve what is humanly impossible, unthinkable. And it is true! 

 

We all know people who are simple, humble, but whose faith is so strong it can move mountains! These people, because of their faith, do not boast about what they do, rather, as Jesus asks in the Gospel, they say: “‘We are unworthy servants”. How many people among us have such strong, humble faith, and what good they do!

 

In this Extraordinary Missionary Month of October let us bear in mind the many missionaries, men and women, who in order to bring the Gospel have overcome obstacles of every kind, they have truly given their lives. As St Paul says to Timothy: “Do not be ashamed then of testifying to our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but take your share of suffering for the gospel in the power of God”. This, however, is for us all; each one of us in our own daily lives can testify to Christ by the power of God, the power of faith. The faith we have is miniscule, but it is strong! With this power to testify to Jesus Christ, to be Christians with our life, with our witness!

 

And how do we draw from this strength? We draw it from God in prayer. Prayer is the breath of faith: in a relationship of trust, in a relationship of love, dialogue cannot be left out, and prayer is the dialogue of the soul with God. 

 

 

The month of October is called the month of the Rosary, a "spiritual cadence", so to speak, that derives from the liturgical Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary, which is celebrated tomorrow. We are therefore asked to let ourselves be guided by Mary in this prayer, ancient and ever new, which is especially dear to her because it leads us directly to Jesus, contemplated in his Mysteries of salvation: joyful, luminous, sorrowful and glorious. 

 

In the footsteps of Saint John Paul II, we recall that the Rosary is a biblical prayer, interwoven with Sacred Scripture throughout. It is a prayer of the heart, in which the repetition of the Hail Mary directs the thoughts and affections to Christ and therefore becomes a trusting supplication to his Mother and ours. It is a prayer that helps us to meditate on the word of God and to assimilate Eucharistic Communion, modelling ourselves on Mary who cherished in her heart all that Jesus did and said, and his Presence itself.

 

Let us join spiritually together in this act of trust in our Mother, and let us receive from her hands the crown of the Rosary: The Rosary is a school of prayer, the Rosary is a school of faith!