Daily Reflection Memorial of Saint Francis Xavier Cabrini

Here at the beginning of Luke 17, the evangelist seems to simply include a few sayings of Jesus’ left out of his gospel account until now. Of the three disparate sayings grouped here, two are found in different contexts in at least one other synoptic account. In Matthew’s gospel, the reference to “little ones” is more appropriately placed after Jesus, having embraced a child, has told the Apostles that they must become like little children in order to enter the Kingdom of heaven. The teaching of forgiving seven times here is similar to Jesus’ answer to Peter in Matthew 18 about how many times we must forgive (“Not seven times but seventy times seven times”). The final saying about faith the size of a mustard seed is found only here in Luke.

Only one other time in the gospels does Jesus pronounce “woe” to an individual with the consequent and somewhat fearsome, “better for that one…” Once, when speaking of presumably Judas Iscariot’s betrayal, he says in both Matthew and Mark, “Better for that one never if he had never been born.” Here it is about the one who “causes a little one to stumble.” For such, Jesus’ is even more severe. “Better for that one to have a millstone placed round his neck and thrown into the sea.” It is a rather shocking statement from the Lord but it testifies to how much we must care for and protect our innocent children. We must also be aware that Jesus is not actually saying that such people ought to be so punished, only that it would be better than to let them harm the “little ones.” It is not a condemnation so much as a lament at the terrible harm such sinful behavior causes, that nothing is worse, Jesus seems to be saying.

The teaching here on forgiveness is in keeping with much of the Gospel imperative to forgive one another. For Jesus, there seems to be no limit to forgiveness. We must conclude that forgiving those who trespass against us is a prerequisite of the spiritual life. We cannot hope to grow closer to God when we still harbor resentment and condemnation towards another. We must find the grace to forgive everyone we have ever taken offense at or been hurt by, without exception. Forgiveness is entirely a grace event. It is from above, we cannot make ourselves forgive, it is not a product of our will power. We must pray for it every day. It is not that we are trying to convince God to give us this grace as that we are trying to convince our own hearts to accept it. You will have no doubts when you have finally accepted that grace which is always being offered to us. You will feel the change very deeply and obviously, like day and night.

Finally, in a reference to the brief parable comparing the Kingdom to a mustard seed, Jesus tells his always bewildered Apostles that with just the merest “spec” of faith, as it were, great things can happen. This faith here that Jesus refers to must be something a bit different than our understanding of faith, which always seems so easily challenged or even shaken. It must be similar to what the Apostle James said in his letter, “But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.” That kind of faith is also “from above.” We must seek it every day in prayer, hoping for it expectantly. It is the kind of faith that enfolds us so that we may say with Psalm 27, “Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war rise up against me, even then I will not be afraid.” Maybe that mulberry tree is really all our doubts and fears, all uprooted and flung into the sea by the faith that comes from above. Like forgiveness, it is not something we manufacture ourselves, but are always seeking from the infinite beneficence of God. Again, we seek it not to convince God to give it to us (for God already has) but to convince our poor, sinful hearts to simply accept it.