Many churches today read at Mass the section from Luke's Gospel (Lk. 17.5-10) where Jesus says two things:
If you have a tiny tiny infinitesimal piece of faith, you can do mind-bogglingly great things.
If you do only what you're commanded to do and no more, well, then don't expect a lot.
While one may think the one is impossible (when was the last time you froze time to prevent a fender-bender?) and the second is harsh (what, no thanks, no encouragement, no nothing?), it speaks toward our potential and how we just seem never to realize it.
Take for instance the whole faith thing. The disciples had asked Jesus to bolster their faith. How often do we pray, "God, increase my faith," and expect a magic shimmer of light bestowing the faith to move mountains, or even, "I don't believe...make me." Wow, if our children were to say, "My room needs cleaning, motivate me!" or a work colleague states, "I know I owe you this deliverable, but I really don't feel like it...can you supply it for me?" we would understandable be a little (or more than a little) put out with the request. There is a need for some work on our part.
The second section is related to this. Jesus here tells us if we do the bare minimum we should expect the bare minimum and act accordingly. "Oooh, thank you for going up to and no further!" is NOT a reasonable expectation. The person who approaches the Kingdom of God with that attitude isn't covered with glory, but has approached it with the mindset of no net gain. Spiritual growth is stagnant. Faith is at best mediocre. The fruits of the Spirit, if they manifest AT ALL, are shriveled (and really, who wants to pick raisins when they really want grapes?)
The point here is that if we are to expect great things, we have to go above and beyond the "just enough" and strive for what lies outside the basic requirements. That has been the thrust of the past few weeks. Faith without action is dead. Doing the bare minimum action is stagnating. If we are to expect our relationship with God to grow, if we expect our faith to increase, then we need to get out of our comfort zones and go above and beyond to see actual growth. It's not that we are to go around moping and saying, "I am an unworhy servant," that is not Jesus' point. His point is that the worthy servant is the one who goes out and seeks to go beyond the bare minimum. If we want that mustard seed of faith to grow, then we need to cultivate it. THEN we become profitable servants.