Genuine Faith and Mighty Deeds!

Tuesday, July 14, 2026

Is 7: 1-9; Mt 11: 20-24

Today’s Gospel highlights Jesus’ woe message against Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. 

We may reflect on the Gospel through three questions. 

1. Are miracles powerless? When Jesus denounces these towns, saying, ‘If the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon…’ it appears as if the miracles or mighty deeds that Jesus performed were powerless. But it is not that the mighty deeds were powerless but that the townspeople lacked openness to Jesus’ message and the signs he performed in their midst. Jesus’ disappointment helps us realize that when hearts become closed, even the greatest miracle fails to produce faith. 

2. Do we need miracles to believe in Jesus? When Jesus laments the unresponsiveness of the people of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, we wonder what role mighty deeds play in inspiring our faith in Jesus. If our faith is strong and if we are sensitive to God’s miraculous work through every ordinary instance in life, we do not need the help of miracles to inspire our faith in Jesus. Genuine faith does not depend on extraordinary signs. Instead, it becomes alive to God’s abiding presence within us even through ordinary daily events like waking up, enjoying good health, safe returns from our travels, quality time with family, etc.

3. How does true faith empower us? True faith makes us spiritually and morally capacious. As it enlarges our hearts, we become sensitive to God’s presence in creation, in others, and in our own selves. We love others and creation, finding them as the very extension of God’s being. As a result, our hearts are moved by the plight of others, and we feel we are either directly or indirectly responsible for their distress. What’s more, we intervene on their behalf, convinced that faith is when it does justice.

If we have genuine faith, we do not look for mighty deeds to believe in Jesus but become mighty deeds ourselves so that others discover Jesus in and through who we are and who we become. 

Let us pray that others may be empowered by our genuine faith to turn to the Lord.  

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar