The Sincerity of Faith

Voice over by Gracie Aye Chan May

Wis 1:1-7; Psalm: 138; Lk 17:1-6

Memorial of Saint Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, on this Memorial of Saint Leo the Great, a pope renowned for his profound orthodoxy and pastoral courage, the Word of God directs our gaze to the very foundation of the spiritual life: the integrity of a heart that sincerely seeks the Lord. Today, we are called to a faith that is both pure in its intention and powerful in its expression, a faith that rejects duplicity and chooses instead the narrow path of truth and mercy.

The Book of Wisdom begins with a stirring exhortation: “Love justice, you who judge the earth; think of the Lord in goodness, and seek him in integrity of heart.” This is the foundational principle. God is not found by the cunning or the half-hearted. The text makes it starkly clear: “For the Spirit of the Lord fills the world, is all-embracing, and knows what man says.” Nothing is hidden. The “witchery of wickedness” and the “debt of sin” create a barrier between us and God. To seek the Lord, therefore, requires a deliberate turning away from duplicity and a wholehearted pursuit of His goodness. It is an invitation to spiritual sincerity, to an “integrity of heart” that aligns our inner thoughts with our outward actions.

This call to integrity is urgently applied in the Gospel. Jesus issues a stern warning against causing scandal: “Things that cause sin will inevitably occur, but woe to the one through whom they occur.” For those entrusted with leadership or influence—especially parents, teachers, and pastors—this is a grave responsibility. Our actions and our words must lead others to Christ, not away from Him. But the Lord’s demand for integrity does not end with avoiding evil; it culminates in the heroic practice of mercy. “If your brother sins, rebuke him,” He says, “and if he repents, forgive him. And if he wrongs you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times saying, ‘I am sorry,’ you shall forgive him.” This is the practical test of a heart that seeks God in sincerity. It is easy to be righteous in isolation; it is Christ-like to be merciful in relationship.

The apostles, feeling the immense weight of this demand, cry out, “Increase our faith!” They recognize that such forgiveness and such a vigilant guard against scandal require a strength beyond their own. The Lord’s response is illuminating. He does not promise a quantitatively massive faith, but a qualitatively potent one. “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.” The power is not in the amount of faith, but in its authenticity and its object—the omnipotent God. A tiny seed of sincere faith is infinitely more powerful than a mountain of superficial religiosity.

This is the Catholic faith embodied by Saint Leo the Great. In the fifth century, when the Church was threatened by heresies that distorted the person of Christ, Leo did not seek a clever compromise. With integrity of heart, he sought the truth and articulated it with clarity in his famous Tome. He understood that sound doctrine is the ultimate mercy, for it protects the flock from the scandal of error and leads them to the true Christ. He famously preached, “Christian, remember your dignity!”—a call to live with the integrity befitting a child of God. His strong, sincere faith—a mustard seed of orthodox teaching—indeed moved the mountainous error of his day.

The comfort and strength for us is this: we are not asked to manufacture this sincerity or this faith on our own. The Spirit of the Lord, who “fills the world” and knows our hearts, is given to us to purify our intentions and empower our forgiveness. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is where we continually seek the Lord with integrity, acknowledging our failures and receiving His mercy so we can, in turn, offer it to others.

How do we apply this? We must examine our hearts for any “wiliness” or duplicity. Do we present one face at Church and another at work or online? We must embrace the difficult duty of fraternal correction, done with love and aimed at repentance. And we must practice the exhausting, repetitive work of forgiveness, especially in our families, trusting that even our tiny, struggling faith, when placed in God, can accomplish miracles of healing.

As Pope Francis reminds us, “Truth without mercy is sterile. Mercy without truth is empty.” Let us, inspired by Saint Leo, seek the Lord with unwavering sincerity, guard the faith with courageous love, and forgive with a power that comes not from us, but from the God in whom we place our mustard-seed trust. Amen.

May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.