Of Mustard Seeds and Microscopes

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."
--Luke 17:5-6

My immediate reaction to this teaching is always a paradoxical blend of relief and shame.  It's good to know that even a tiny bit of faith is so powerful.  On the other hand, what if your faith isn't even the size of a mustard seed?  How much do you get for, say, a grain of sand-sized faith?  What if you need an electron microscope to see your faith?  I've not moved many mulberry trees lately....

So, we're a bit chastened by this teaching, but I don't think Jesus meant it simply as a chastisement.  Rather, I believe he's actually encouraging us that no matter how meager our faith may initially appear, that tiny little speck is the beginning of our life-fulfilling path to completeness and joy.  God takes us where we are, loves us as we are, and makes us His own.

Today's responsorial, from Psalm 139, follows a similar theme.  The psalmist begins with the extremely humbling awareness that God knows him more intimately than he even knows himself:

O LORD, you have probed me and you know me;
you know when I sit and when I stand;
you understand my thoughts from afar.
My journeys and my rest you scrutinize,
with all my ways you are familiar.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know the whole of it.
Behind me and before, you hem me in
and rest your hand upon me.

These are not entirely reassuring images. But then the poet reminds us that this intimacy is not merely scrutiny of our faults, but a loving awareness of who we are at the deepest level.  God does not know us in this way to judge, but to love us at the core of our being:

If I take the wings of dawn
and dwell beyond the sea,
Even there your hand guides me,
your right hand holds me fast.
If I say, “Surely darkness shall hide me,
and night shall be my light”--
Darkness is not dark for you,
and night shines as the day.
Darkness and light are but one.

You formed my inmost being;
you knit me in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, because I am wonderfully made;
wonderful are your works!
My very self you know.

God know us and knows how puny our faith is, but through grace makes that tiny little whiff of faith our very redemption and the starting point for our complete transformation in his all-knowing, all-embracing love.

Great Lover of my soul, there are no words I can offer in humility, in praise, or in love that you have not placed in my mouth and in my heart.  I am yours.  Break me open so that you may love me all the more.  Amen.