The gift of faith

27^th Sunday of Ordinary Time year C 2019:

The apostles have a really great request from Jesus today: increase our faith.  How many times have you and I said these words to the Lord?  In times of difficulty, trial, suffering, pain.  We are tempted to cry out: Lord, increase my faith.  I really appreciate the sentiment from Habakkuk in our first reading: Lord I cry for help and you do not listen.  What is God’s response: wait for it, it will surely come.

Doesn’t it seem like we are in the middle of a tension?  We experience pain, suffering, trials, and temptations.  And yet, we are a people of faith.  We believe that God hears us.  We cry out to him.  Our faith is strong.  We know that we strive forward to the promise of eternal life.  And yet, we have to wait for that time of fulfillment.  We already believe in the coming of God’s kingdom.  Still, we are not yet there.  

This is why faith is so important for us in our lives.  Faith is precisely that virtue that enables us to continue down this pathway of our lives, fixed on the life to come.  We read in the Letter to the Hebrews that faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.  Faith is so important because of the tension of human existence.  We live stretched out between heaven and earth.  We live here on earth, but we long for the life of heaven.  Faith is the evidence of things not seen.

Yet, faith is a gift.  We call it a theological virtue.  This means that it comes from God.  We first received this gift of faith at our baptism.  All the baptized received the gift of faith.  Yet, why do people fall away from Christ?  I’m sure all of us can think of friends and family members who have received the gift of faith at baptism and yet do not experience or live out their life of faith.  

We need faith.  Yet faith is a gift from God.  So, we can pray like the apostles: increase my faith.  But, also, we can learn a valuable lesson from the second reading today too.  St. Paul says to Timothy: stir into flame the gift of God you have received.  I think faith works like this too.  We receive this gift from God.  We can ask him to help us increase our faith.  Yet, what do we do with these gifts?  We have the responsibility to fan the gift of faith into a flame.  

Faith is not a passive virtue.  It doesn’t just automatically kick in and take care of all our problems when we face tough times.  Faith is a virtue that requires some time and attention to fan into flame.  All of us should ask ourselves: what do I do on a daily/weekly basis that helps me to turn the gift of faith in to a flame?  

Let me tell you the absolute basics: daily prayer, regular confession, and Sunday Mass.  These things are the very building block of a life of faith.  Without these, we will lose our way.  Our faith will feel cold and distant.  

But, what about taking it to the next level?  How to we stir the gift of faith into flame?  First, I would challenge everyone to continue to be fascinated by the holy.  What is it that fascinates you about God or the Church?  Maybe it’s one of the sacraments, maybe it’s the life of a saint, maybe it’s the church’s work to spread the gospel to distant lands.  Do you have a Catholic passion?  I have a brother who is slightly obsessed with Star Wars.  He follows all the blogs.  He watches all the trailers in super slow motion.  He comes up with his own ideas and theories.  He has a real passion for Star Wars.  I don’t have to convince him to spend time and energy learning and fueling his passion.  He does it because of his drive and enthusiasm for Star Wars.  We should all have such a passion for the faith.  We should all have such a passion for the Mass or for the Bible or for learning about the saints.  Imagine how much our faith would grow if we spent our time and energy digging in deeply on the truths of the faith.  And honestly, what’s more exciting: and adventure in a made up galaxy far, far away, or the drama of the loving God who gave his son as a ransom for us sinners?  Fan the gift of faith into flame by learning about your faith, become passionate about the faith.  

Life is hard sometimes.  It seems like I say that all the time.  While we live our lives here on earth, we long for so much more.  This is why we need faith.  Faith is the evidence of things unseen and the realization of things hoped for.  Lord we pray, increase our faith.  Help us to fan into flame this gift you have given us.