The drop and the small seed

A drop can carve rock; I like to recall this saying of the ancient Latins to reflect upon the following: I pray, but I see no results!

The dramatic situation in some parts of the world in search of peace, such as in the Holy Land, where so much violence seems almost unstoppable and prayer, urged even daily by the Pope and the Church of Jerusalem, seems useless and unheard, raises questions: Why? And from whom? From God? From men?

If the drop digs the rock, faith teaches us that praying is not useless. Jesus told the disciples: “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.” (Lk 17:6). An incredible event in itself, the mulberry tree being a sturdy tree, well rooted in the earth and resistant to the winds.

Here is the problem: “If you had faith”! Faith, even as great as a small seed, and constancy like the drop that continually falls, work and produce something seemingly impossible to superficial consideration.

To pray, then, is not to resort to arms and violence, but is to continue to ask that not only God comes to our rescue, but also that men, that is, those in charge of nations and peoples, do not sleep soundly; they often are at the root of violence and wars, and their ill-considered decisions weigh unspeakably on the populations.

Praying, with faith however small as a mustard seed and with the constancy of the drop that falls, produces fruit but leaving it to God when and how.

This is what a Knight and a Dame of the Holy Sepulchre can do in support of their solicitude for the Land of Jesus in these times.

Fernando Cardinal Filoni
Grand Master

(May 2024)