Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The closest that the Bible comes to offering an exact definition of what faith is can be found in Hebrews 11:1 – “… Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.” From this particular passage we see that the central feature of faith is confidence or trust. In the Bible, the object of faith is God and his promises.
A clear example of this is Abram’s encounter with God in Genesis 15. In response to God’s promise of countless descendants, Abram “believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.” (Gen 15:6). Commenting on this, the Apostle Paul writes, “No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.” (Rom 4:20-21). Thus, faith means putting your trust in God and having confidence that he will fulfill his promises.
Faith is more than intellectual agreement. To use an old illustration, imagine you are at Niagara Falls watching a tightrope walker push a wheelbarrow across the rope high above the falls. After watching him go back and forth several times, he asks for a volunteer to sit in the wheelbarrow as he pushes it across the falls. At an intellectual level, you may believe that he could successfully push you across the rope over the falls, but you are not exercising biblical faith until you get in the wheelbarrow and entrust yourself to the tightrope walker.
Most of you do not know Anne Kennedy Kruse, a widow who lives nearby in an assisted living facility. She recently celebrated her 100th birthday with members of her family. After WWII and graduating from college, her husband worked for Exxon Mobil as a civil engineer and later a project manager.
For many years, the family of six moved so often that their oldest daughter was in 11 different schools by the time she was in 10th grade.
They called several Texas towns home, spent time in Louisiana, in Connecticut and Norway, and ultimately, back where they started the journey, in Dallas. During those years, sometimes he was assigned to spend weeks at a time off-shore, in the Gulf, in the North Sea, off the coast of Nigeria. But Anne faced each move, each new assignment, with an attitude of “all will be well.” Unlike many of those in the “work group” she never really complained – she simply placed her faith in God and said “it is easier to be happy.” She was, and is, the person that “would climb in that wheelbarrow” and ride across Niagara Falls – take that journey through life -- knowing that God is in control and will keep her safe to the end of the journey and beyond.
The obedience that pleases God comes from faith (Rom 1:5; 16:26) rather than a sense of duty or obligation. There is all the difference in the world between a husband who brings his wife flowers because of the joy it gives them both and one who brings them simply out of duty – because he feels he must. When we attend Mass on Sunday it should emanate from a desire to be there, to worship with our brothers and sisters, not from a sense of obligation. Then we will have the confidence – the faith – to make the journey – to take the ride “in the wheelbarrow”.
Sincerely,
Deacon Ed
