20th Sunday after Pentecost 2.10.16 Growth in faith
The study of history always helps to shed light on the present.
In terms of our faith, there is a long history before we arrived. In fact we go back 4000 years!
That long ago God spoke to Abraham, and set him up to be the father of many nations. He would, God promised, have more children than the grains of sand on the seashore. (Gen 22, 17)
Since that time God has intervened much in human affairs; guided us; forgiven us; many times worked miracles to help us along.
In return He has asked that we trust in Him – that He has good intentions towards us, and knows far better than we do what is best for us.
It helps if we reflect on these past events and let them strengthen our faith.
If God has set His people free from slavery, healed their sickness, forgiven their sin, raised up leaders and prophets, given clear teaching – if He has done all that over four thousand years, He can do it again for us.
And this give us confidence.
It is one purpose of the Mass and other prayers, such as the Divine Office, to recall what God has done. Psalm 135,1: Give thanks to the Lord, for His love endures forever.
And all of that rescuing and forgiving was in the midst of constant denial and sin.
Yet we still doubt!
The Gospel story today is of the nobleman who sought healing for his son.
It contrasts with another similar story where the Centurion asks for healing for his servant (Lk 7,1-10).
The nobleman thought it would be necessary for Our Lord to come to the house; the centurion knew that Our Lord could heal from anywhere. He had more faith.
The nobleman’s faith was tentative, needing to be reassured. Only when he heard the time of the miracle did he fully believe.
We have four thousand years of miracles to call upon; but we can still lurch from one event to the other without ever having complete confidence in God.
Our Lord would get frustrated with people who always wanted another miracle before they would believe.
Yesterday’s miracle was no good; we need another one now.
What He wants is that we would believe in Him, without needing miracles to boost that faith.
He wants us to express trust in Him, to the point that, whatever the outcome of our prayers, we still believe in Him, even if we do not get what we ask.
We put our faith in Him, not in changing circumstances.
He is happy to work the odd miracle, but He does not want us to rely only on miracles.
Several other passages record Our Lord’s reproving lack of faith.
The Apostles in the boat (Mt 8,26), Peter on the water (Mt 14,31), the man with a possessed son (Mt 17,17). ‘Men of little faith’; ‘faithless and perverse generation’.
Why do we trust Him so little?
It is partly our sinfulness, which reduces our vision to merely physical and material matters, slowing our spiritual growth.
It is partly that we do not remember the lessons of our very richly blessed history.
We need to build up our relationship with God on every level – prayer, sacraments, good works, constantly seeking His will.
Our faith will grow as we develop at all levels, the whole person being involved.
We can grow in faith, also as a community, which is another reason we gather for Mass; to remind each other of the blessings of the Lord.
Remember the number ‘4000’ next time we go to complain. Four thousand years, God has been proving how reliable He is!
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