Bible
Study: Isaiah 35, 1 to 10. Luke 5, 17 to
26.
Faith is
one word that summarizes our beliefs and values. Everything that we do or
refuse to do on a daily basis is spurred on by our Faith. Waking up each day
and going about your daily activities to going to bed at night are all spurred by
faith. If for instance, you don’t believe you will wake up alive, you will
never be able to close your eyes to sleep or if you don’t believe going out of
your house is safe, you may as well remain indoors all day. In other words,
faith is always practical.
Dear friends
in Christ, in our Gospel passage today, we are presented with two sides of the
coin as far as faith is concerned; on the one hand, the faith of four men who
were willing to go to any extent to bring their sick friend to Jesus because
they believed Jesus could heal him and then on the other hand, we are presented
with a group of scribes and Pharisees who did not believe that Jesus had the
power to forgive sins.
Now, you
see, these four men didn’t have to recite the creed, they didn’t have to
memorise anything, their faith was clearly written in their actions. Again the
Scribes and Pharisees who saw Jesus as an ordinary man, a son of a carpenter
did not need to say any word, they did not come out openly to Jesus to say: “We
don’t believe you are God.” All they did was to murmur amongst themselves: “Who
does this man think he is? Why is he speaking blasphemies?” And Jesus, to show
that he was actually God, made them understand he could see the content of
their hearts. He then asked “Why do you raise such questions in your hearts?
Which is easier, to say, “Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say ‘Stand and
walk?” Luke 5, 22 to 23.
We are always
on one side of the coin. It is either we believe or we don’t believe. If we
believe, our very actions, even our thoughts would display our faith. If we
really do not believe, we may shout our creed at the top of our voice, but our
actions would sell us out. I guess you remember the story of a village that
suffered a famine for a long time, one day, they all agreed to come to the
market square to pray to God for rain and by the time the entire village
gathered for the prayers, they discovered only one little girl had come along
with an umbrella. What an irony? Most of us are like the people of this
village. We come to church day in, day out yet our faith is no more than lip
service.
Nothing destroys
our faith as much as fear. When you are able to come to practical terms with
the things you fear most in life, then you would know how sound your faith is. Like
faith, fear represents something that has not yet happened yet you believe
without a single doubt that it can happen at any time and because you believe
it can happen, you find yourself preparing for it to happen. And your actions
and inactions, your basic decisions are influenced by either your faith or your
fears. Commit your fears to God today and find courage to strongly believe that
they will not happen then change your life, stop trying to prevent your fears
from becoming realities, instead start preparing for and expecting the very
best trusting fully that God will take care of you, trusting fully that God
loves you more than you love yourself and that God having died for you sake
will stop at nothing to ensure that you get the very best in life.
If you are
really fearful, and of course, satan never stops trying to create fear within
in all in the name of “Let’s be real, ” then let the words of the prophet
Isaiah in today’s first reading find a way to sink deep into your heart: “Strengthen
the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are of a
fearful heart, "Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come
with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you." Then
the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then
the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.
For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the
burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the
haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes.”
Isaiah 35, 3 to 7.
It is even
an irony that by the time Isaiah was speaking these very words, the people to
whom he was addressing, the house of Israel were on exile on a foreign land, they
basically had no hope of ever returning to their homeland yet the words of
Isaiah remained ever true. Do you notice how Isaiah uses ironies? He speaks of
waters breaking forth in wilderness, streams in the desert, pools arising from
burning sand. That is how faith works. We always have a choice either to lament
about the deserts of our life or to rejoice over the streams that God has
brought by allowing his son Jesus to be born among us. We can either let our
fears quench us or we use our faith as spring-boards to get us where we want
to.
Today is
the feast of St. Ambrose. In the life of St. Ambrose, we can clearly see that
with God, anything can happen! Do you know Ambrose was a governor of Milan and
an ordinary catechumen when the people shouted they wanted him as Bishop? He
was baptised and the following week, he was ordained a priest and bishop at the
same time. Do you know that despite his seemingly lack of seminary training, he
became one of the greatest bishops the church has ever produced, that he is
even a doctor of the church? Do you also know that his great bishop was
directly responsible for the conversion of St. Augustine? Who says, God cannot
use anybody if he or she so disposes himself or herself? Read more about St.
Ambose by clicking this link http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=16
Let us
Pray:
Lord
Jesus, I believe in you, I trust you, may my life never be controlled by my
fears but give me the eyes of faith to see that there is no need to continue
harbouring those fears. Amen.
Good morning.
Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. Happy new week.
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