Sunday Reflection with Fr Robin Gibbons - 2 October 2016

Black mulberry tree

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time. October 2 2016

It has become quite common to describe people as 'a person of faith' as somebody connected to a religious tradition, in contrast those who either don't profess any religious affiliation or belief, or who won't bracket themselves in such a manner. I have a number of friends who simply describe themselves as 'spiritual'. I have to be honest and say that I don't quite understand their use of the term, spiritual, spirituality is connected with the inner search for meaning or the Divine, lived out in a particular way, for example, Benedictine, Carmelite, Desert etc. and belongs to faith communities and people.

This brings me to focus on that word faith. I can't quite separate my own faith form the person I am, it seems to me that all of my journey so far, with its twists and turns has enveloped me in a faith that remains rooted in the search for God, but following the Lord Jesus on the Gospel road. My faith has been nurtured by the example and love of others, but has also been honed in the struggles of life; even events that at first might seem divorced from religious belief, the ordinary every day things we do!

One of the things Jesus keeps teaching us is that God is to be found in any place and in every situation. In chapter 17 of Luke's gospel the Apostles want Jesus to increase their faith, but he doesn't give them a specifically religious answer. Instead he talks about servants doing their duty, getting on with what they should be doing. At first that might seem a bit puzzling to us, but think a little more, remember the many connections Jesus makes with life, relationships and how these are often encounters where we are challenged, nourished or sometimes converted.

Jesus takes so much of his teaching from life. He likens faith to the growth of a mulberry tree from a little seed. The hint is there, someone plants faith in our hearts, but it is up to us to increase it (an older way of saying 'grow') day by day by being the best we can. Jacob the trickster found God in a dream in the arid desert waste, he called the spot Bethel, the house of God. We too have our Bethel moments, little connections with God in daily life. 'Increasing' our faith means being open to them!

Prayer from the Byzantine Tradition:

O Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, Who art everywhere and fillest all things; Treasury of Blessings, and Giver of Life - come and abide in us, and cleanse us from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.

Fr Robin Gibbons is an Eastern rite Catholic Chaplain for the Melkites in the UK. He is also an Ecumenical Canon of Christ Church Oxford