Dear Friends,
“Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen. Because of it the ancients were well attested.” These are the opening words from our first reading this weekend. Faith is often aligned with belief in doctrine, like the Creed, and yet it is so much more than that. The other side of the coin of faith is trust. As we allow faith to offer us evidence of things not seen, it is faith that will lead us to trust God completely.
Jesus offers us a very persuasive reason to believe, to trust when He says, “Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.” And then He explains how to accept His kingdom, telling us, “Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.”
Where is our treasure, where is our heart? Our life is not our own. We are not our own masters. We are sons and daughters of almighty God, our Father who desires to enrich us and grace us with every gift for life, the fulness of life in His presence for all eternity. Faith is what grounds us to meet the challenges of this world head on. For Jesus has overcome this world. Faith, this trust in the greatness of God and His generosity to us, is what leads us to courageously live differently than the world around us while appreciating the gifts which God offers us in this world. All of which will pass away.
Faith, trust, is what motivates us to strive for virtue, to live in the peace of Christ daily, surrendering our anxieties, worries, concerns to the providence of God who never abandons us and is always guiding us on our journey.
This world, especially in these recent years, certainly shocks us. We are seeing the dissolution of so many values, principles, morals that we hold dear because they are from God. But discouragement is not what we are about ~ it is a tool of the evil one. Rather we move forward with courage in Jesus, by the sanctifying presence of the Holy Spirit, and giving ourselves over to the Will of our heavenly Father confidently. For all things here are passing and we are preparing, like athletes for a marathon, for the world that will never end.
Let us never grow weary of returning to God over and again especially in the Sacraments of Confession and Communion. It is there and in pondering His Word in Sacred Scripture that we grow and are lead joyfully through the darkness of this world by the light of Christ, who alone is, for us and for the world, “the way and the truth and the life.”
God bless you, God love you,
Monsignor McCulken
