Is your faith life audiovisual? - Daily Reflections December 16,2014

A FAITH GOD CAN SEE

 

There was a father who called his three children together. As they sat together in a circle on the floor, the dad placed a toy in the middle. He explained to them that he won the toy as a door prize and he wanted to give it to one of them but with a condition. He asked them, “Who is the most obedient?” The children just stared at him. Sensing that they didn’t understand the word, he then asked, “OK, who always obeys Mommy and does everything she says?”

       One of the children picked up the toy and handed it to the father. “You win!” exclaimed the child.

       The children may not have understood the word obedient but they saw it in the actions of their father.

       It is plain in the Parable of the Two Sons that obedience, i.e., acting on the Word of God, is a condition for entry in the Kingdom. In the parable, we saw a son who said yes but did not do his father’s command and another who said no but eventually did his father’s command. Obedience is not something God wants to hear from us. It is something God wants to see. God wants children whose faith He can see and not just a faith He can hear.

       Isn’t that what happens every Sunday or every time we gather at Mass to worship? We profess our faith and God hears it. I’m sure it is something sweet to the ears of God, but there is something sweeter — candy to the eyes of God – when we put actions to back up our faith. How many times in the Scriptures have we read, “When Jesus saw their faith….” precede a miracle?

       When you continue to smile at difficult people at the office, when you say no to personal TV time to attend to your children, when you continue to understand an erring spouse, when you continue to give in times of scarcity, when you struggle to get off your bed and go to Church for Mass — that is the kind of obedience that God wants to see. That is putting actions behind your faith. Fr. Joel Jason

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: Is your faith life audiovisual?

 

Bless me with the strength to obey You today, O Lord — that I may gain favor in Your eyes and a place in Your Kingdom.