Here We Go 'Round the Mulberry Tree

Every one of us has a "mulberry tree" or two in our life, some big thing that seems insurmountable. It might be the hurt from a past experience or job, and facing someone who has hurt us deeply. It might be dealing with an addiction, overcoming world hunger, establishing world peace, etc., etc., etc. In today's gospel (Luke 7:5-10), Jesus tells us that even the smallest amount of faith gives us the power to tackle whatever challenges life brings, and so we tend to labor under the misconception that we can deal successfully with these seemingly insurmountable issues if we only have faith. Even our president recently said that "When faith gets weaker, our country seems to get weaker. When faith gets stronger… good things happen for our country."

Image from WIX

Not exactly. Faith is measured not by problems solved but by being obedient servants of God. This faith enables us to move beyond our own limited vision and embrace instead God's vision of how the world is to be: a world free of violence and war, hunger and poverty, strife and discord. God promises that if "this vision...delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late" (c.f. first reading, Habakkuk 1:2-3, 2:2-4).

The recent Synod on Synodality placed this vision squarely in the midst of a Eucharistic Banquet: "While nourished in the Eucharist by the Lord’s Body and Blood, the Church is aware it cannot forget the poorest, the last, the excluded, those who do not know love and are without hope, nor those who do not believe in God or do not recognize themselves in any established religion. In its prayer, the Church brings them to the Lord and then goes out to meet them with the creativity and boldness that the Spirit inspires. The Church’s synodality, thus, becomes a social prophecy for today’s world, inspiring new paths in the political and economic spheres, as well as collaborating with all those who believe in fellowship and peace in an exchange of gifts with the world: (Final Document, 153).

What holds us back from moving "mulberry trees"? It may be that we lack confidence in our own prayer. Or maybe that we insist on doing the job alone. Or that, despite our problems with where the tree stands, we are comfortable with the fact that it's always been there. Jesus calls us to faith in who we are: God's servants empowered to make a difference in the world because God makes a difference in us.