In today’s Gospel we hear the apostles asking Jesus to increase their faith. It looks as though faith was their top priority too. This is one of only two occasions in the Gospel of St. Luke where the apostles make a precise request of Jesus. Real faith means committing oneself to a person and putting all one’s trust in him. And for the Christians that person is Jesus Christ. He is not expecting us to litter the sea with uprooted trees. It’s just a bold way of saying that faith can do the impossible. At the same time, trusting in the Lord is not the same thing as meekly accepting whatever happens in our world, without so much as a word of complaint. Just look at today’s first reading, where Habakkuk the prophet rebukes the Lord because a fearful enemy is approaching and it looks as though violence and power are going to win the day. Our Lord is big enough to accept our anger and our cries of indignation, provided only that we do not lose hold of our faith in God.
In our heart of hearts we all know that faith is a gift to be cherished as a top priority. Faith is the basis of our relationship with the Lord; without it, we can have no friendship with Him; without it, the reception of the sacraments would be worthless; without it, the words of the Bible would lose their power for us; without it, coming to Mass would be pointless; without it, we’d never understand, as today’s Gospel tells us, that even when we’ve done all that the Lord requires of us, we are doing no more than our duty. If faith is as vital to us as that, then we want not simply to hold on to it but to cultivate it, to encourage its growth. Apostles asked Jesus “Lord, teach us to pray.” Faith and prayer go together. If we pray, our faith grows; if our faith grows, we are drawn to prayer. Of course, “Lord, teach us to pray” is itself a prayer. It’s a prayer we could make especially our own today; perhaps we could repeat it time and time again throughout this day.