GROWING FAITH
“Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
~Mark 4:40
“Take and read!”
~Christ to St. Augustine, referring to the Sacred Scriptures
Each of our readings for Mass employ the word faith. Faith is a common enough word in the Bible and one of the primary reasons that the Scriptures were written. As the Evangelist John explained his motivation to write a Gospel, “these [things] are written that you may [come to] believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name,” John 20:31). He wrote as one who had come to faith and who desired to awaken faith in the hearts of others. The Catechism explains, “The Gospels were written by men who were among the first to have faith and wanted to share it with others. Having known in faith who Jesus is, they could see and make others see the traces of his mystery in all his earthly life” (CCC 515). What a beautiful role the four Evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John have in grounding that faith in the person of Jesus Christ and helping that faith to grow! They give an account of how faith grew among the disciples of Jesus and they help us to embrace faith’s path.
We would expect that the Bible would references faith many times, but it is striking to hear the little word faith crop up four times in our readings. Faith can easily be a throwaway word used without much thought, but it really is the heart of the matter. Our faith may be small, but we must not despise the power of even a tiny seed of faith which according to Christ has far-reaching and unimagined potential. St. John knew this as he wrote in his first letter, “The victory which conquers the world is our faith” (1 John 5:4).
How does faith come to growth in us? St. Paul’s second letter to Timothy tells us: by fanning into a flame the desire of our hearts to know Christ and by drawing strength from the good example of those around us. It is beautiful to see signs of deepening faith in our parish, slowly and surely. St. Faustina Kowalska, whose feast day is October 5th, invites us along the path of faith, “I fervently beg the Lord to strengthen my faith, so that in my drab, everyday life I will not be guided by human dispositions, but by those of the spirit. Oh, how everything drags man towards the earth! But lively faith maintains the soul in the higher regions” (Diary, 210). Let’s follow her lead.
The Gospels do not just describe faith but give rise to it. I might rephrase St. Jerome’s famous axiom—ignorance of Christ is ignorance of Scripture—by saying that to have knowledge of the Scriptures is to have knowledge of Christ in His mysteries and to come to a greater faith and trust in Him. This past Tuesday we inaugurated Discovering Christ, welcoming well over a hundred adults of all ages and backgrounds to Kolbe Hall. We were present not just for a delicious meal from Sarna’s but to go deeper into the Word of God and discover how that Word puts us in living contact with Jesus Christ. It is not too late to come join us for Discovering Christ these next few weeks!
In conclusion, I was delighted that Br. Joachim of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal was present for a wedding this past weekend and he carried the Crucifix in procession as a living example of faith!
~Fr. Howe, Pastor