Simplicity, Trust, and the Love That Never Fails

Faith that can move a mountain.
We’ve all heard that phrase, but some of us have seen it. I have. My father wanted to build a street with some fellow Christians but the land was too low. One of the men involved followed a truck full of dirt home. He came upon a building site with a mountain of dirt piled high. The developer came out and told him that he needed to get rid of the dirt and was having problems. 1400 truckloads of dirt later, free or charge, my father and his friends were able to build. God moved a mountain and covered 9 acres of land deep enough to build basements and houses.

I have seen faith grow like a mustard seed — small, almost invisible at first, yet persistent enough to crack through the hardest soil of doubt. I have seen faith lead to healing, to forgiveness, to joy and reconciliation. I’ve seen it bring peace where there was turmoil, unity where there was division, and love where there was hurt.

And yet, for all that faith accomplishes, we often complicate it.
We argue about how to pray, when to pray, or which form of prayer is “better.”

But faith, at its heart, is not about style — it’s about surrender.

The Simplicity of Faith

“When you pray, say: Our Father…” — Luke 11:2

Jesus gave us the model of prayer Himself.
In those few words, He offered a relationship, not a ritual. He invited us into intimacy with the Father — not through performance, but through trust.

He also gave us the Eucharist, saying:

“Do this in memory of Me.” — Luke 22:19

And He taught us to seek truth in the Word:

“Search the Scriptures… they testify of Me.” — John 5:39

There was no mention of eloquence or formality, no hierarchy of languages or rituals. He never said some prayers were better than others, only that they must be sincere.

“For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward Heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love.”
— St. Thérèse of Lisieux

Faith, like prayer, is not complicated — we make it complicated.

The Poverty of Heart

Jesus never required perfection before belief.
He welcomed the sinner, the sick, the poor, the uneducated.
He never measured a soul by the clothes it wore, the language it spoke, or the wounds it carried.

“Man looks at appearances, but the Lord looks at the heart.” — 1 Samuel 16:7

The saints understood this poverty of spirit well.
St. Francis of Assisi, stripped of everything, found joy in nothing but Christ.
St. Teresa of Avila said:

“The important thing is not to think much, but to love much.”

That is the essence of faith — not an intellectual assent, but a love that endures.

Faith as Total Trust

Faith is not partial.
It cannot be measured out in cautious doses.
You cannot “believe a little.” Either you believe, or you don’t.

“If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; nothing will be impossible for you.” — Matthew 17:20

This kind of faith doesn’t depend on circumstance. It depends on trust.
Faith is the steady confidence that even when the mountains don’t move, God is still working.
Even when the prayer seems unanswered, the silence is not absence but mystery.

It is the faith that clings to Christ in the storm, believing that He is present in the wind and the waves.

Faith Working Through Love

“If I have faith to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.” — 1 Corinthians 13:2

Faith without love becomes hollow.
Love is the proof of faith.

Jesus didn’t say the world would know us by our theology, our arguments, or our liturgical preferences.
He said,

“By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.” — John 13:35

“Love, and do what you will.” — St. Augustine

When love becomes the motive behind our faith, obedience ceases to feel like obligation — it becomes joy.

Seeing Jesus in the World

Faith opens our eyes.
It allows us to see Jesus where others see only coincidence.
It allows us to see His fingerprints in the ordinary — in laughter shared at a dinner table, in a child’s prayer, in the peace that follows confession, in the quiet strength of someone who forgives.

When we love more, we see more.
We begin to notice that Christ is everywhere — in the faces of the poor, in the hands of the suffering, in the broken places of our own lives.

The Call to Obedience and Humility

Once we believe, the rest is obedience and humility.
Faith calls us to act — to love those who wound us, to pray for those who persecute us, to serve those who cannot repay us.

“Faith working through love.” — Galatians 5:6

It calls us to lay down our pride, to surrender the illusion that we can control God, and to trust that His plan — though often hidden — is always good.

“To come to possess all, desire the possession of nothing.” — St. John of the Cross

In that nothingness, faith becomes pure.

The Mountain Within

When we hear of “faith that moves mountains,” we often think of miracles outside of us.
But perhaps the greatest mountain faith moves is the one within — the mountain of fear, resentment, pride, or unbelief.

Faith moves the obstacles between our hearts and God.
It tears down the walls that keep us from love.

So maybe it’s not about how we pray, but who we pray to — and whether we truly trust Him with our whole hearts.

A Closing Prayer

Lord, give us mustard-seed faith.
Give us the courage to believe simply, to love deeply, and to trust completely.
Let our faith move mountains — not for our glory, but for Yours.

“The just shall live by faith.” — Romans 1:17

Faith That Moves Mountains