Reading and meditation on the Word of God on Saturday of the 18th week in ordinary time, August 9, 2025

Delivered by Vici from the Parish of Saint John the Baptist in the Archdiocese of Jakarta, Indonesia. Deuteronomy 6: 4-13; Rs psalm 18: 2-3a.3bc-4.47.51ab; Matthew 17: 14-20.FAITHAS BIG AS A MUSTARD SEED  Ourmeditation today is entitled: Faith as Big as a Mustard Seed. There was a factthat after a long time following the Master, Jesus Christ, the apostles provedto be unable to solve a problem they were facing. The sick person possessed bythe evil spirits could not be healed and freed from that severe torment. They obviously realized that something was wrong withtheir faith, but they didn't know exactly what was the matter. JesusChrist discovered that what the disciples really lacked was the strength,quality and essence of that faith even though they had been living with Him allthe time. Faith is likened to the size of a mustard seed, that is, although verysmall, it contains quality, strength, and is full of God's power. Such greatpotential will be able to do the impossible. The faithful person can commandthe mountain to move to another place. Concretelyspeaking, what does it mean by faith of the size of a mustard seed? The realmeaning here is that in a believer, God is the One doing and moving. Thisfollows what Saint Paul said, that his life was not from himself, but fromJesus Christ who lived in him. For example, you are asked by a friend to helprelieving a certain pain, as you believe that God will do everything. Prayers,faith, energy, thoughts, initiatives, work, materials that may be in great useto help, but God must be the number one given His space and opportunity to acton that sick person. Itoften happens that our human abilities are too much given the priority to acton our problems, and so we soon or later face the consequences obviously seenlike we are easily tired, bored, angry and giving up. This so happens becauseGod is not given His space and opportunity to act. Finally we will complainlike the apostles, namely why can't we heal or solve the problems ourselves?From His hidden place, God may whisper in this way: “Your faith is not strong.You don’t ask Me to intervene.” Anotherpoint that signifies faith as big as a mustard seed is the awareness and loveto maintain the faith that is growing within us. Although small as a mustardseed, the temptation to underestimate it, to forget it and to neglect to carefor it must be as strong as possible to be overcome. From long ago Moses hadreminded of a loyalty, obedience and endurance to defend this faith. We areencouraged to never forget and abandon this small size of faith just becausethere is something new that comes and attracts our attention. We indeed havebasic teachings, holy scriptures, sacred traditions, spirituality that all ofthese must be well preserved, maintained and useful all the moments of ourlife. Only then can our faith endure to the end. Let's pray. In the name of theFather... O Lord Jesus Christ, Your Mother and also our Mother, the BlessedVirgin Mary is an example for a firm and genuine faith, just like a very usefulmustard seed. Guide us to always imitate her true faith. Hail Mary full ofgrace... In the name of the Father...