Thursday 21 March 2019

2nd Sunday of Lent 17 Mar 2019 Sermon


2nd Sunday of Lent 17.3.19 Faith

Faith is the substance of things unseen (cf Heb 11,1). It is not faith if we can see it.

If we are thirsty and we come across a river, we can see the river. We do not need faith to believe it is there. But if we cannot see the river and still believe it is nearby, that is faith at work.

In spiritual terms faith is belief in God and His essential goodness; a trust that He will always do what is best for us.

There are things we cannot see, and things we have not seen yet. The future requires a lot of faith – to believe in it, and work towards it.

God will triumph even though He permits so much evil to go on in the meantime.

We know a certain number of things, and then we are told about other things. Starting with what we know, we should be able to believe what we don’t yet know or fully understand.

God has revealed many things. Some of these things are now past events; others are still to come. Having seen that God is reliable so far, it stands to reason He will be faithful in the future. If He has brought us this far, surely He can take us further, and why not all the way to Heaven?

Faith can be strong or weak. Weak faith changes with the circumstances of the day. Strong faith goes beyond current circumstances. It is rock-like in its endurance.

At the Transfiguration Our Lord is helping the apostles to strengthen their faith, effectively telling them they are going to need all the faith they can find, because they are going to see Him crucified, and looking like He is losing the fight - but really He is winning and will emerge in glory.

We come along later, and we know the story, so we should have no trouble dealing with suffering and setbacks, should we? Unfortunately, with the benefit of two thousand years of hindsight we still have trouble trusting the workings of divine Providence.

The evidence is there, but we have not assimilated it; we have not made a large enough space in our hearts and minds to take in this truth.

Calling upon the vast amount of evidence: of the reality of God, His goodness and truthfulness; and setting that against the doubt, fear and mockery, we are able to hold firm.

The glory of God is immense. We do not normally see it. We might have a few moments of ecstasy, but most of the time we are travelling by faith. There is water over the next sand dune! There is glory coming. It may be a while yet, but we are part of it and will not miss out.

If we have strong enough faith we can invoke the power of God to work for good. We can make good things happen, and head off the bad ones.

We have a say in what happens in the world. We do not just listen to the news; we make it!

This is quite a power to have.

It helps if there are more people believing and praying, and persisting in it.

Some miracles take longer than others, but the principle is there: ask, and you shall receive (Mt 7,7).

We take the chance, on hearing one more time of the Transfiguration, to draw more deeply from the wells of salvation, and be refreshed.

May the Lord give us all a strong faith, a lively faith, that will believe ‘nothing is impossible to God’ (Lk 1,37).

No comments: