Columnist Herb Caen in the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper tells about an executive presiding over a lunchtime meeting in a very busy San Francisco restaurant. The executive was having absolutely no luck in getting a waiter to come to their table. He finally became so frustrated at the lack of service that he took out his cell phone from his pocket, and from his table he called the restaurant. He asked for a waiter to come to their table. It worked. In the busy restaurants of our own lives, we need to sometimes step back and call home, so to speak.

We listen from our first reading today. “How long oh Lord I cry for help, but you did not listen.” Sometimes we feel we’re at the very top of the mountain. Our lives seem very clear and focused. Everything seems to be falling into place. Our faith is strong. Life is great. But, it’s not always the case. There’s another all too painful part of life. We sometimes begin to realize that our body parts begin wearing out. A loved one dies. We lose our job. We’re much too busy. We are bored beyond words. We’re alone. We’re forced to move into a retirement home. Our routine is now shaken. Maybe our faith is fuzzy and full of so many questions.

There’s a legend from the orient about a traveler making his way to the city. One night he meets two travelers along the way, fear and plague. Plague explains to the traveler that once they arrive they’re expected to kill 10,000 people in the city. The traveler asks plague if plague would do all the killing. “Oh absolutely not,” he says, “I shall kill only a few hundred. My friend fear will kill the others.”

Fear, whether real or imagined, can discourage us, overwhelm us, strangle us, hold us down. But Jesus assures all of us that if we possess just a mustard seed’s amount of faith we can face the fear of failure, the fear of need, even the fear of death. If we really possess that faith with calm, we can uproot those things that strangle us, hold us, own us. For the need for reconciliation, sometimes the need to let go, let it go and let God. The mustard seed of the Gospel challenges us to take hold of the opportunities we have for planting and reaping a harvest of justice, compassion and reconciliation. In faith, no matter where we are in life, a heart full of love always has something to share.