Fr. Ricardo Chinchilla, CJM
When Jesus speaks of forgiveness at the highest level, the apostles panic, fearing they will fail, so they ask, “Lord, increase our faith.” Favor that Jesus does not grant because faith is not a “gift” that comes from outside; it’s my response to God’s gifts, with trust after his loving call.
The gospel also imagines a scene between master and servants, capped by some unsettling words: when you have done everything, say, “we are useless servants.”
“Useless” in Jesus’ language means: we are servants without claims, demands, or ulterior motives. Jesus calls us to dare to live, and to choose: in a world that speaks the language of profit, to use the language of gift, in a world that travels the road of war, to take the mule path of peace. Therefore, service is not useless but is far more authentic than its results: it is our way of uprooting trees and making them fly.