Just a Little Faith
Homily for Twenty-Seventh Sunday – 5 October 2025
I'm sure we've all experienced challenges to faith. It isn't easy to express belief always and everywhere. Things happen in our lives, our circumstances, and our world, that deeply challenge our faith. Today's Scripture readings are meant to encourage us to hold onto faith: Hang in there. Persevere. Trust in God. God has got this. Trust that there is an overall God-picture which is beyond our sight and knowledge.
You may have heard the quote, "I believe in the sun even when it is not shining; I believe in love, even when there's no one there; and I believe in God, even when He is silent." It is such a powerful affirmation of faith and hope and perseverance. These words were found etched on a cellar wall in Cologne, Germany, by American soldiers at the end of the Second World War and are attributed to a Jewish person hiding from the Nazi Gestapo. They are a defiant declaration that belief in goodness and God remains even when the evidence seems overwhelmingly to the contrary.
Faith is a holy stubbornness
We might say that faith is a holy stubbornness, a gritty determination, a refusal to give up hope and give up on God. This obstinate clinging to God is beautifully expressed further on in the book of the prophet Habakkuk than the passage for our first reading for this Mass. Habakkuk announces that "though the fig trees do not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
If you think of it, faith is not truly convincing until it is tested. Authentic faith grows and strengthens through adversity, expressed in trusting that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.
In our first reading for today, the cry from the heart of Habakkuk, "How long, O Lord, shall I cry for help, and you will not hear, ... and you will not save?", is the cry that resonates with humanity right through the ages. Surely each of us can remember times when this has been the cry of our hearts. But notice the Lord's reply to Habakuk and us: "Don't give up, don't despair, wait patiently and persevere. God's help will come."
The just person will live by faith
The last line of the reading records the Lord saying that the just person, the righteous person will live by faith. This single verse from Habakkuk is one of the most quoted verses from the Old Testament in the New Testament and has powerfully influenced Christian piety and theology down through the centuries. Today again, it is an exhortation to us to live by faith.
This living by faith means holding onto God's promises, even if the events and experiences of the present seem contradictory or hard to understand. We are encouraged to rejoice in the Lord even without immediate signs of the consolations and blessings he has promised. God will give justice in the end. In the meantime, the righteous must exercise trust in God's goodness, justice, and promises, waiting for them to be fulfilled.
In our clinging to faith in tough times, the second reading from the Second Letter to Timothy gives us encouragement. St Paul says we have the "help of the Holy Spirit" to maintain the "faith and love" of Christ Jesus in our lives. St Paul says that faith is the opposite of a "spirit of timidity." Faith leads us to an attitude of "power and love and self-control." Our confidence isn't self-confidence; it's Christ-confidence or Spirit-confidence. We should have great confidence that God will help us to overcome the obstacles we face.
We don't need much faith to be effective
In the Gospel reading, the apostles' plea, "Increase our faith," probably reflects the suffering or opposition they were facing, not unlike the context of Habakkuk in the first reading or the struggles that Timothy was facing.
Jesus's response about the power of faith the size of a mustard seed is his great encouragement: we don't need much faith to be effective! Just give Jesus a little bit, and he will do great things. Just as he took five loaves and two fish to feed thousands, he can take the mustard seed of our faith and transplant a tree into the ocean. We can go ahead and step out in that small faith anyway.
The parable that follows means we don't do God favours by serving him. Our holiness and living a life of faith are simply "normal" in terms of what God expects from us—they are the fulfilment of the purpose for which we were created. This Gospel calls us not to pat ourselves on the back every time we turn away from temptation or do an act of mercy. Holiness should be ordinary.
I came across a story, which I believe is true, that illustrates this. A construction crew was rebuilding a Carthusian monastery and came across the grave of a monk. Opening the casket, they found his body incorrupt. Knowing that this is regarded as one of the signs of great holiness, they wondered what to do? They called the nearest Carthusian monastery, which was in another country, and asked "What shall we do with the body?" "Bury him again," came the reply. "But he's incorrupt!", they protested, "He must be holy!" "All Carthusian monks are supposed to be holy," came the answer. "This is not exceptional. Bury him again."
Remember, we don't have to worry about the size of our faith. God is the one who does the heavy lifting. If it were the size of our faith that matters, then we'd need a massive faith to move a mountain, or overcome a tough obstacle, or receive forgiveness for a great sin. But that is not how faith works. Thankfully, the power doesn't come from us; it comes from God. God is the one doing the work through faith. Faith is the key that opens the door to God acting in our lives.
Perhaps you are facing situations now that are comparable to those of Habakkuk and Israel, and Timothy, and the apostles who asked Jesus to increase their faith. Take courage. Step out in faith.
Even a little faith opens the door for God to move mountains and trees and even our hearts.
