One of my faithful parishioners lost her daughter to a heart attack; I did not see her at church for many weeks after the tragedy. She had been a frequent daily Mass attendee and never missed a Sunday. She even served and sang in the choir during many of the weekend Masses. When I asked her about her sudden absence, she replied with these painful but very familiar words, “I don’t believe anymore. The pain and grief I feel have completely destroyed all my faith in God.” Despite my attempts to invite her back to a life of faith, I still have not seen her back at Mass.
Why do we give up our faith because of our painful experiences in life? If we are going to hold onto our faith in the face of life’s tragedies, we must remind ourselves of the value and purpose of the faith that we received at Baptism. Faith is not given to us to fix our lives, control them, or avoid its many tragedies. On the contrary, God gives us faith to relate with Him as His beloved children all the time, to receive all that He offers to us, and to respond by giving Him what He asks of us with love.
Let us reflect on the experience of Abraham, our father in faith. By faith, he received and obeyed God’s word to “go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance . . . not knowing where he was to go.” It is also by faith that Abraham received the son that God had promised him for many years; “By faith he received power to generate, even though he was past the normal age—and Sarah herself was sterile—for he thought that the one who had made the promise was trustworthy.”
But Abraham’s faith is not just about receiving God’s words and His promises. His faith also allowed him to give to God whatever God asked from him: “By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready to offer his only son.” He was ready to sacrifice his only son because he believed that “God was able to raise him from the dead” (Heb. 11:1-2, 8-19). We see in Abraham a faith that both receives and offers all to God, even an only son that was promised by and received from God.
We will lose our faith if we see it only as a means of receiving favorable things or avoiding evils. Thanks to the devastating effect of the pernicious prosperity gospel, many erroneously think that we are the end of faith, that faith is to serve our own purpose in this life. This is why many of us lose our faith, because of financial difficulties, health struggles, broken relationships, persecutions and scandals in the Church, personal struggles and hurts, tragedies in our lives and in this world, failures, setbacks, etc.
A faith that depends on our experiences in this life cannot survive because, as Jesus said, “In this world you will have many tribulations” (Jn. 16:33). We need a faith that allows us to relate with God as our loving Father and keeps us open to receiving the amazing things He desires for us as well as open to giving Him whatever He asks, beginning with our loving and trusting obedience.
This is why Jesus said to us, “Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.” He calls us “little flock” because He knows how timid we are in the face of the challenges of life. The remedy for all these fears is our faith in the goodness of God, who freely gives us His kingdom along with all that we need to enter it—encouragement, endurance, hope, wisdom, courage, etc. But it is only through faith that we can receive these things from Him, give Him what He asks of us, and enter His kingdom.
By faith, we receive the gift of the kingdom and see ourselves as children of God, even during present trials. By faith we know the will of God now, even if the trials of life persist or worsen. By faith, we do the will of God till the very end, and thereby avoid the destiny of the servant in the Gospel who received a severe beating because he knew the master’s will but did not act according to it. By faith, we labor and prepare for the glorious return of Jesus.
God has given us the precious gift of our true faith, and we will be held accountable for it: “Much will be required of the person entrusted with much and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more” (Lk. 12:32-48). Whatever we face in this life, Jesus still demands that we foster His gift of faith in us when He returns in His glory, for “when the Son of Man returns, will He find faith on earth?” (Lk. 18:8).
Jesus is with us today, and He is always doing something, offering us something, and asking us to do something in return. This requires maturity in faith amid the trials of life. We cannot use its pains as an excuse to abandon our faith. Instead, we must choose to press forward, asking God to strengthen our faith especially during its trials.
Let us reflect on our Blessed Mother at the foot of the cross on Calvary. By faith in the words of the Angel Gabriel, she had conceived Jesus at the Annunciation. She continued to listen to Him as He hung dying on the cross for our salvation, ready to obey His last request to her, “Woman, behold your son . . . Son, behold your mother” (Jn. 19:26-27). By faith, she consented to God’s plan and offered her son to God for our salvation. By faith, she waited for His glorious resurrection.
In her sorrows and sufferings, Mary did not lose her faith. On the contrary, she advanced in her pilgrimage of faith during her earthly life, and she can help us to do the same today. That is why she is God’s last gift to us before His death on the cross.
In each Eucharist, we are present at the mystery of faith, where Jesus Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith, comes to meet us in this life of constant trials and testing. He comes to strengthen our faith in Him in the face of all challenges. If we still lose the gift of our faith for anything, we will also surely lose the gift of His kingdom.
Glory to Jesus!!! Honor to Mary!!!
Photo by Danie Franco on Unsplash
