Wednesday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Mighty deeds demand faith. Whether it be personally, as a church or as a country, great faith supports our ability to accomplish much that is significant. Personally this may happen because we have of an experience of God that is so profound that the spirit empowers us to move mountains. As a church great faith emboldens the body of Christ to act with unconditional love towards ourselves and neighbor so that through the church people have an intense encounter of Christ. In our country, inspiring leadership has called our citizens to their feet and united in action for the common good.
The anti-thesis of this is the lack of faith. Speaking personally, I know that at times my own lack of faith in God’s capacity to work through me limits my ability to be a person through whom others encounter Christ. St. Paul reminds us that our struggle with sin is sign of the depth of our faith. How often is it that I go back to the confessional, only to confess similar sins as I had before. This, Paul admonishes, is because we have not yet resisted sin to the point of shedding blood. Speaking for myself it seems then there is a lack of faith in my own ability to change and a lack of faith in God’s Divine Mercy.
As a church do we believe with our whole heart, mind and soul that the church and the sacraments are animated by the Holy Spirit? Such belief would help us experience the church as to be the bride of Christ through whose rituals we can have deep encounters of our creator. Unfortunately, our lack of faith both as individuals and as a community can at times inhibit the church’s ability to be a servant or a herald through which others experience Christ.
Even in our country, there is a lack of faith in leadership, which has created even deeper divisions in an already polarized society. Unlike leaders of the past, the political leaders of both parties offer us little inspiration that challenges us to reach outside of ourselves to unite for the common good.
This said, St. Paul in his letter to the Hebrews challenges us to utilize the trials we face as part of our discipline, that when we heed it, its calls to righteousness will bring about good fruit. I received a letter today that reminded me, like St. Paul that I have a gift of allowing God to use me as instrument of healing. This letter challenged and disciplined my faith. It helped me to see myself through God’s eyes. How many of us need these reminders?
Thus while discipline is offered through trials and suffering, it is also offered through invitations that lovingly call us to more deeply follow and see with the heart of Christ. The real question offered us in the gospel today is how do we respond?
Lord, grant us the ability we pray that You would strengthen our faith so we might be inspired to both recognize and know that You are present in us and in our neighbor. Help us respond accordingly.
- Deacon Michael Montgomery