TOPIC:
INCREASE YOUR FAITH
27C Sunday Homily, Luke
17:5-10, October 2, 2022
1) STORY
John, a poor village boy, had to cross
a forest each day to get to his school in the neighboring village. He asked his mother if she could hire a
servant to accompany him to school. Being
too poor to do this, she suggested he ask his guardian angel for help. John was delighted when his guardian angel
agreed to go with him. It was the
school’s custom to give the teacher a gift. John asked his mother for a gift,
and she suggested he ask his guardian angel for help and was given a gift of a
jug of fresh milk. The teacher was
grateful but very surprised when he poured out the jug of milk. The teacher asked John where this gift came
from, and John said it came from his guardian angel. When his teacher asked to
meet this angel, John was very happy. Going into the forest, John called out to
the guardian angel many times but there was no response. The teacher then suspected John was lying. John was deeply upset. He cried out one last time and the answer came
to John. T he guardian angel said, “Son, I cannot come until the day your
teacher has your purity of heart and your simple childlike faith.” John was able to see with the eyes of faith
what the teacher was not able to see.
2) GOSPEL, Luke 17:5-10
A) Faith gives us the power to see what
the non-believer cannot see.
B) Just as a plant can grow, so too can
our faith grow.
3) APPLICATION TO LIFE
A) With the eyes of faith, we believe
there is a God who exists and loves us. We
believe Jesus is the Son of God who came to save us and give us eternal life by
dying on the cross. We believe that God
gave us the Ten Commandments as a guide to live in this world. We believe the Bible is the word of God and
that Jesus comes to us in the Eucharist.
B) Just as a plant can grow with the
help of the sun and water, so can our faith grow by prayer, reading the Bible,
and receiving the Body and Blood of Christ.
4) CONCLUSION
Just as John could see with the eyes of
faith what others could not see, so we can see with our eyes of faith what the
non-believer cannot see. We thank God
for this great gift and ask him to continue to increase our faith. We ask for the strength to pray, read the
Bible, and receive the Body and Blood of Christ.
