Growing in Faith
By Fr. Conor Donnelly
(Proofread)
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me. I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins and grace to make this time of prayer fruitful. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.
The prophet Habakkuk complains to Our Lord about the apparent triumph of evil over good. He laments the mistreatment of the chosen people by invaders who flaunt their scandalous behavior. “How long, Lord, am I to cry for help while you will not listen? Why do you set injustice before me? Why do you look on when there is tyranny? Outrage and violence, this is all I see, all is contention, and discord flourishes” (Hab. 1:2–3).
God answers the prophet with a call to patience and hope. The day will come, he says, when the evil ones will be punished. “See how he flags, he said, he whose soul is not to rights, but the upright man will live by his faithfulness” (Hab. 2:4). Even when it seems that evil has triumphed, as if God did not exist, we need to remember that God and his followers will triumph in the end.
Living by faith means realizing that God calls us to live as his children in every moment of the day. We need to be patient and place our hope in him. Saint Paul exhorts Timothy to remain firm in his vocation, to preach the truth without being inhibited by human respect. He says, “I am reminding you to fan into a flame the gift that God gave you when I laid my hands on you. God’s gift was not a spirit of timidity, but the Spirit of power, and love, and self-control” (2 Tim. 1:6–7).
Saint Thomas Aquinas teaches us that the grace of God is like a fire that loses its brilliance when the ashes are covered over. This is what happens when charity is almost smothered by lukewarmness or human respect. The fortitude needed to advance the faith springs from the furnace of our interior life, which must never be allowed to go out. This is what we must ask of Our Lord. Scripture tells us, “Father, your love for us surpasses all our hopes and desires. Forgive our failings, keep us in your peace and lead us in the way of salvation. Lead us to seek beyond our reach and give us the courage to stand before your truth.”
In The Furrow, Saint Josemaría says, “Give us a strong faith, so that we may overcome our defects and give proper testimony to others. There are men who have no faith, who are sad and hesitant, because of the emptiness of their existence, and exposed like weathercocks to changeable circumstances. How different that is from our misting life as Christians, which is cheerful, firm and solid, because we know and are absolutely convinced of our supernatural destiny.” We can derive great inspiration from our faith. With this source of energy, we can overcome the obstacles of difficult circumstances or personal weaknesses.
There is such a thing as a dead faith which does not save. Saint James says that it is a faith without works. It is to be found wherever life is separated from belief. One of the statements of the Second Vatican Council is that one of the greatest errors of our day is the separation of faith from ordinary life. The Catholic who is the Sunday Mass-going Catholic, but whose faith does not influence his ordinary life. One writer says there is such a thing as a dormant faith. A cowardly lifestyle is also known as lukewarmness. Practically speaking, lukewarmness is the worst thing that can infect a Christian. It can contaminate even those who think themselves very good Christians.
We need to develop a firm faith that will enable us to go beyond our abilities in the apostolate. If we truly live by faith, we will gain a true understanding of our circumstances. We will also be able to judge things with rectitude of intention. The Second Vatican Council says, “Only the light of faith and meditation on the word of God can enable us to find everywhere and always the God in whom we live and exist. Only thus can we seek his will in everything, see Christ in all men, acquaintance or stranger, make sound judgments on the true meaning and value of temporal realities, both in themselves and in relation to man’s end.”
There are a number of occasions when Our Lord calls his apostles, “men of little faith.” There was the time when they were sailing in a great storm and Jesus himself was on board. The apostles tend to worry a great deal about the future, about what was going to happen. They were well aware of their far from perfect faith. Saint Luke tells us on one occasion, they ask Our Lord, “Increase our faith” (Luke 17:5). That is precisely what he did. The apostles gave their lives for Christ and for his teachings. Our Lord’s words were fulfilled. “Were your faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you” (Luke 17:6). An even greater miracle was the transformation of the souls they came into contact with. Much like the apostles, we frequently find ourselves lacking in faith in the face of difficulties or lack of means. In The Forge we are told we need to increase our faith.
God will grant us more faith if we keep asking him for it. We lack faith. The day we practice this virtue, trusting in God and in his Mother, we will be daring and loyal. God, who is the same God as ever, will work miracles through our hands. “Grant me, dear Jesus, the faith I truly desire. My Mother, sweet Lady, Mary Most Holy, make me really believe.” What a wonderful aspiration to repeat to Our Lord many times each day could be the words, “Lord, increase my faith.” We should also practice this virtue frequently whenever we find ourselves in need or in danger.
When we come up against our weaknesses, when we are in pain, when we encounter difficulties in the apostolate, when souls don’t seem to respond. Whenever we pray in front of the Blessed Sacrament. One writer says we need to make many acts of faith in our prayer and during Holy Mass. It is said of Saint Thomas that when he looked upon the host at the moment of the consecration he would pray, “Tu rex gloriae, Christe. Tu Patris sempiternus es Filius.” You are the King of Glory, you are the eternal Son of the Father. Saint Josemaría had the custom of praying at that moment of the Mass, “Increase our faith, our hope, and our love.”
Whenever he made a genuflection, he would pray, “I adore you with devotion, hidden God.” Adoro te devote, latens Deitas. Many people have the custom of praying those words of the Apostle Thomas at the moment of the consecration: “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). We should not let this opportunity pass without showing Our Lord our faith and our love. Even though we are filled with a great desire for formation and closer union with Christ, it is possible that our faith may at times weaken. We may give in to human respect in our apostolate. Faith is a gift that we sometimes can fail to live up to.
The occasion could be as unimportant as a grain of mustard seed. We should not be surprised at our weaknesses. God has already taken them into account. We should try to imitate the apostles who were conscious of their defects, as well as conscious of the infinite power of the Almighty. One time on his way to the Holy City, Our Lord stops for a moment to express his disappointment at its rejection of his message. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem. How often I would have gathered your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you did not want it” (Matt. 23:37).
Our Lord describes how he protects his own. As a hen gathers her brood, Jesus watches over us from the Tabernacle. I read a story once about a farmer who was walking around his farm one time after there had been a fire, and he came across a chicken who had been burnt, the chicken was burnt and was dead, obviously. His only thought at that moment was to give this chicken a good kick. So he gave it a good kick. But out from underneath the chicken ran five or six little chicks alive. That passage of scripture came to his mind. “How often I would have gathered you as a hen gathers her chicks.” He saw the reality of that particular phrase.
Our Lord has alerted the dangers that threaten us. He is ever ready to cure our wounds. He continually shares his life with us. On many occasions we may have prayed that prayer of Saint Thomas in the Adoro te devote: “O loving pelican, O Jesus Lord, unclean I am, but cleanse me in your blood. Of which a single drop, for sinners spilt, can purge the entire world from all its guilt.” The Lord is our refuge and our strength. The image of his just ones seeking protection from the Lord as a hen gathers her brood is to be found repeatedly in Scripture. The Psalmist prays,
“Keep me as the apple of your eye. Hide me in the shadow of your wings” (Ps. 17:8), “for you are my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy” (Ps. 61:3). And in another place it says, “Let me dwell in your tent forever. Oh, to be safe under the shelter of your wings” (Ps. 61:4). The prophet Isaiah also uses this image to reassure the chosen people of God’s protection against the Egyptians. “Like birds hovering, so the Lord of hosts will protect Jerusalem” (Isa. 31:5). At the close of our earthly life, Jesus will be our judge and friend. While we live on earth, his mission is to save us. To give us all the help we need.
From the Tabernacle, Jesus protects us in a thousand ways. How can we imagine that he could be indifferent towards our problems and our worries? Our Lord has wanted to remain present throughout the world so that we might seek him more readily for friendship and assistance. The Curé of Ars says, “If we are suffering pain and discomfort, he will lighten our burden and comfort us. If we succumb to illness, either he will provide a remedy or he will give us the strength to suffer for the sake of eternal life. If we find ourselves at war with the devil and our passions, he will supply us with arms for the battle so that we can resist and ultimately be victorious. If we are poor, he will enrich us with all kinds of good things in this life and in eternity.”
Let us resolve to seek his company every single day without fail. Saint Alphonsus Liguori said those few minutes spent in our visit will be among the most productive moments of the day. What are we to do in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament? Love him, praise him, thank him, ask of him. What does a poor man do in the presence of a wealthy man? What does a sick person do in the presence of a doctor? What does a thirsty person do at the sight of a fountain of sparkling water?
Our confidence that we will be victorious in trial and tribulation is not founded on our own limited resources, but on the protection of the Lord. He has loved us from all eternity to the point of sacrificing his Son for our salvation. Jesus remains present among us in the Tabernacle. As a consequence, he may be very close to the place where we live or work. He is ready to help us, to heal us, to give us energy for our earthly sojourn. All we have to do is draw close to him. He is waiting for us.
Nothing shall separate us from God. Because as Saint Paul teaches, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” (Rom. 8:31–35). Nothing can separate us from God if we are determined to abide with him.
Clothed in grace, we can cross mountains and climb the hill of our Christian duty without halting on the way. In Friends of God, we are told, if we use these resources with a firm purpose and beg Our Lord to grant us an ever-increasing hope, we will possess the infectious joy of those who know they are children of God. If God is for us, who is against us? Even though Our Lord may permit us to experience strong temptations, family difficulties, sicknesses, or reverses of any kind, no trial, no matter how fierce, can separate us from Jesus. By making a devout visit to the Tabernacle nearest to us, we can reach out to the powerful hand of God.
We can then be able to say as Saint Paul said to the Philippians, “I can do all things in him who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13). “Omnia possum in eo qui me confortat.” “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38–39). This beautiful song of trusted optimism of Saint Paul is something that we could make our own. John Chrysostom reminds us that Paul himself had to fight against numerous adversaries.
He was attacked by barbarians. His guards laid traps for him. There were times, he says, when he was opposed by his own faithful in great numbers. Yet Paul was triumphant. Let us not forget, says Chrysostom, that the Christian who is faithful to the laws of God will win out over those who oppose him and even over Satan himself. If we stay close to Jesus in the Eucharist, we will be victorious in every engagement. Though sometimes we may appear to have been overcome. The Tabernacle will be our strength. That is why Jesus wanted to remain with us in a tangible way so that we could seek his help.
Frequently in Scripture we find Our Lord saying, “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy burdened and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). “Come to me and I will make you into fishers of men.” He invites us and beckons to us every day. Our serenity can be rooted in the Lord. At the same time, we do not close our eyes to reality. We look at the present and to the future with optimism because Our Lord is by our side. Life’s difficulties can in the end yield great good for us.
We can never be completely alone. In even the most overwhelming circumstances. Just as we appreciate the company of a friend when things are going badly, so should we be grateful for the company of our great friend in the nearest Tabernacle. We should go to him for consolation, peace and strength. Saint Teresa of Avila says, “What more can we want than so good a friend at our side, who will not forsake us when we are in trouble and distress as they do who belong to the world?”
Saint Thomas More realized that his doom was sealed when he was called to testify before the Lambeth Tribunal. He bade farewell at home to the people of his household because he did not want them to follow him to the wharf as was their custom. Only his son-in-law, William Roper, and his favorite daughter, Margaret, accompanied him on this final short journey, together with a few servants. Everyone aboard the ferry was silent. After a while, More whispered into the ear of Roper, “Son Roper, I thank our Lord, the field is won.” Roper later wrote that he did not comprehend the meaning of these words. With the passing of time, he came to understand that More’s faith had given him the confidence of victory over any obstacle.
He knew without a shadow of a doubt that Our Lord would be with him in his ultimate battle. If we seek to be close to Jesus, to be Eucharistic souls, the Lord will watch over us as a hen gathers her brood. We too can be strengthened in the knowledge that the field is won. “Be a Eucharistic soul,” says Saint Josemaría in The Forge. “If the center around which your thoughts and hopes turn is the Tabernacle, then my child, how abundant the fruits of your sanctity and apostolate will be.”
The Mother of God contemplates her Son in heaven. She will put right the words on our lips when we do not know what to say. She will provide a prompt response to make up for our tongue-tied clumsiness. Let us ask Our Lady’s help to increase our faith, that we may be faithful to the end of our days and that we might bring many others to Christ in the process.
Our Lady will always be a tremendous source of faith and hope for us, especially when we are in direst need. We sinners know that she is our advocate who never gets tired of lending us a hand again and again. As often as we fall, she will make an effort to rise again. We who go through life fumbling and faltering, who are weak to the point of not being able to avoid the pains inherent to our human condition, we know that she is the comforter of the afflicted. The refuge where as a last resort we may find a bit of peace, a bit of serenity. That special consolation that only a mother can give and that makes everything all right again.
One writer says we know also that in those moments when our helplessness reaches almost exasperation or despair, when nobody can do anything anymore, and we feel utterly forlorn with our sorrow or our shame up against the wall, she is our hope, our beacon light. She can be appealed to when there is no longer anyone to appeal to.
I thank you, my God, for the good resolutions, affections, and inspirations that you have communicated to me during this meditation. I ask your help to put them into practice. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
EW