20th Sunday after Pentecost 10 October 2021 Degrees of faith
The nobleman had a certain amount of faith but not strong.
Our Lord then gave Him more faith through the miracle.
It is one thing to have a miracle. How we respond is vitally important.
If we receive a blessing we thank God and store up the memory in our hearts (cf Our Lady, Lk 2,19).
We do not just shrug it off carelessly as did the nine lepers (Lk 17,11-19).
We have an ever-increasing list of miracles the Lord has worked for us. What marvels the Lord has worked for us, indeed we are glad (Ps 125(126), 3).
As we accumulate our list of blessings we can also deepen our faith, and we will have more faith to call upon the next time we need a miracle.
Our Lord does not want, however, that we be lurching from one miracle to the next but putting our permanent trust in Him.
Even when people could see Him, and they knew He had worked other miracles, they still doubted Him.
Our Lord objects to this lack of faith … unless you see signs and wonders.
He wants us to enter a relationship of trust with Him, such that at any time and in any need we can call confidently upon Him.
The requests flow from a full heart, an already established closeness. It is not shouting across a chasm, but a quiet confident word.
We seek a unity with God which has always been there, but needs to be restored and
increased; a natural growth from strong foundations…like
branches on a tree (Jn 15,5).
So that we increase in our love for God.
We do not see Him as only a problem-solver. We are not seeking just to squeeze benefits from Him, but to have a constant trust and gratitude towards Him.
We express all this in our prayer, which is our link with all that is good and powerful.
One of our most important prayers is the Rosary, which we highlight, particularly in this month.
If we seek certainty and security, the Rosary will definitely help.
The Rosary has great stability, being prayed at all places and times, bringing before us the central mysteries of our faith - mysteries which keep rolling upon us like waves on the shore.
Based in eternity, yet active in time, these mysteries remain true and relevant. The more the prayer is prayed the more good is going to come.
It is a prayer with many aspects. It will work at different levels, It makes us stronger, it heals the rift between humanity and God, and because of the increase in faith it is more likely to make things happen.
The Rosary helps to anchor us in God Himself, rather than just being preoccupied with outcomes.
Success or failure we press on. We should pray the Rosary every day. We are not obliged to do that; it is just that it bears so many fruits.
As far as outcomes go, some things require more prayer than others. For really big things like rescue from an invading army, or the overturning of immoral abortion laws, we need more time and more numbers.
It is not that we lack faith that we have to keep doing the same thing – it is just that bigger objectives require more prayer, and more people praying.
Then, there is reparation for past sins, which are countless; and for perennial causes such as conversion of sinners. We have much to keep us busy.
See yourself as the nobleman of today’s Gospel. He was told his son would live but he did not see the miracle straight away. Maybe he thought he would go home and find his son was dead.
Faith enables us to see victory before it is evident. We pray the victory into reality.
The Rosary helps to do this.
Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.
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