Forward Movement is an official, non-profit agency of the Episcopal Church whose mission is to create compelling content for Christian living. Since 1935 we have published the quarterly devotional Forward Day by Day, as well as pamphlets, booklets, and books that encourage and nourish people in their lives of prayer and faith.
MONDAY, June 14 (Basil the Great)
Matthew 17:14-21. If you have faith the size of a mustard seed...nothing will be impossible for you.
Late one Friday afternoon, a priest received a phone call from a woman he did not know, who needed almost $2,000 by Monday afternoon or she and her family would be homeless. Various illnesses had kept the woman and her husband from working, and they were months behind in their mortgage payments. The woman was a member of no church and seemed to have no interest in changing that: she simply wanted money, and her situation was desperate. The priest offered her what he could, but it was not enough to stop the foreclosure. He could not get the plight of this family of six out of his mind.
Early on Sunday morning he decided to tell the parish that the loose offering that day would go to help some strangers keep their house. Because it was a holiday weekend and many people were out of town, he did not know what to expect. But when the loose offering was counted, it amounted to just over $2,000.
Jesus' words about faith moving mountains have gotten a lot of people into trouble because they relied on a miracle to do everything. What Jesus means is that generosity of spirit always accomplishes more than too scrupulous insistence on what cannot be done. (2003)
PRAY for the Diocese of Hong Kong Island (Hong Kong)
Ps 80 * 77, [79]; Numbers 9:15-23,10:29-36; Romans 1:1-15
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Maybe the mustard seed represents the difference between recognizing and not recognizing that fact.