THE STRENGTH OF FAITH
Faith
is not necessarily dependent on a person’s intellect or his capacity to
understand. Faith has to do with the person’s willingness to surrender
to a set of beliefs that will then become the foundation of his way of
life. Faith is something that scientists cannot really measure, as it
can take as many different forms and shapes as there are people in this
world.
In the Gospel, Jesus makes it clear that faith is also a gift and not
something that a person can generate. There are no formulae that can
derive it from some starting point of knowledge. It is a gift from God.
Seeing that it is at the heart of our relationship with Him, it seems
quite consistent that it is not something we can measure or create.
Gratitude is our best response to the gift of faith. The more grateful
we are, the stronger our faith becomes. It is truly a case of the one
who has much getting more and more! It seems that faith is better if it
is kept simple rather than complicated with all sorts of clever attempts
at understanding or measuring it.
Perhaps this helps to explain why Jesus thanks His Father for endowing
the understanding and strength of faith to the simple — because they are
more likely to simply accept it with gratitude and put it to good use.
Let us pray that we will keep our own faith simple and easy to follow.
Let us pray that we will avoid the temptation to control God’s gifts to
us and simply be grateful for them and put them to good use.
This certainly seems to be what Jesus would prefer, judging from
today’s Gospel, and many of the other things we learn of His attitude to
faith during His life and ministry. Fr. Steve Tynan, MGL
REFLECTION
QUESTION: Do you try to manipulate God into giving you what you want
rather than simply being grateful for all that He chooses to give you?
Holy Spirit, help me to develop a grateful heart that will stay with me all the days of my life.
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