Living a virtuous life is not only a nice thing to do, it can have eternal consequences. In the first reading today from Sirach 44, Sirach says that sinful men are forgotten. “And they are as though they had not lived, they and their children after them.” But he praises godly men who lived lives of virtue. “Yet these also were godly men whose virtues have not been forgotten; their wealth remains in the families, their heritage with their descendants.”
The Gospel reading today from Mark 11 contains two stories. At the beginning of the reading, Jesus curses a fig tree. Then He goes into the temple area and overturns the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. The next day, as He and the disciples are walking along, they see the fig tree that Jesus had cursed; it was withered to its roots. Peter mentions this and Jesus replies, “Have faith in God. Amen, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it shall be done for him.”
Prayer is a very powerful thing. But without faith, it is like a Ferrari without an engine. Faith is the engine that drives prayer. Jesus taught about this time and time again. When we have faith, there is nothing that God can’t do. A mountain into the sea? Child’s play for God. Think big. Pray big. And God will deliver big.
Father, give us the faith to move mountains. Help us to stop limiting your work in our lives by our little faith. Today we pray for those big things that you want to do with us. Amen.
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