Having heard the voice of God, how could one’s heart be hardened? Last week we began a subtle transition from focusing on justice for the poor and shifting our focus to faith. Last week Jesus’ story quoted Abraham speaking to Dives who was seeking a spectacle to save the faith of his ancestors, “If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.” Faith does not grow from spectacle; however, the apostles seem to be asking Jesus to somehow “increase their faith.” His reply isn’t a recipe for “increasing,” but suggests they already possess sufficient faith.
"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.
The mustard seed is famously small---roughly the size of a grain of sand. Essentially, Jesus is saying “If you had any faith, you would not have to ask for more.” Faith isn’t something that comes in all sizes; it comes in one size. The gift of faith, though, is often seen as a type of passivity, of letting life wash over oneself and hoping for the best. This passivity, however, is heresy. It is called “quietism.” Because faith has an element of endurance and patience, it doesn’t mean that faith is only waiting for something to happen.
The three cardinal virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love are joined for a reason. They are joined because they complement one another and work together. One aspect of this trinity can be understood as true faith engenders hope and the courage to love in the face of evil and doubt. Despair is the relinquishing of hope and is not the same thing as feeling depressed or defeated or searching for hope in the chaos and disappointment that marks many lives of people with faith. True despair is acting in the world as if there was no hope; hating rather than loving, because “What’s the point? Life is meaningless anyway; why not hate?” Just as faith engenders love through hope, despair allows for hatred by renouncing hope. One a virtue, the other a mortal sin, but they both are realized in action.
The “hardened heart” is the heart that lives from despair. Even the heart that has heard the Lord’s voice can despair because very often where faith leads us, the heart fears to go. Make this a spiritual practice and the heart stiffens in unnatural reluctance to love, to be vulnerable. What unlocks the potential of faith (rather than simply “strengthening” it) is action expressed in loving despite feelings of fear, doubt, and despair. Love is not a feeling; it is a commitment to action in response to Christ’s command to love God and love one’s neighbor. If you wait to feel like loving someone, your love will only serve an emotional need.
If you respond to God with “I can’t possibly do this!”, listen for the reply “You are right. You can do nothing without me." Open your heart and let the Spirit live and guide you”. We are indeed, as the gospel says “unprofitable servants,” we bring God no profit through loving others. Loving others, especially those for whom the feeling of love is absent, is God’s gift to us, and the source of God's great gift of grace.
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